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BV 

HORATIO W. DRESSER 

Methods and Problems of 
Spiritual Healing. 

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The Power of Silence. 

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The Perfect Whole. 

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Voices of Hope. 

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In Search of a Soul. 

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Voices of Freedom. 

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Education and the Philosophical 
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Living by the Spirit. 

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The Heart of It. 

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G. P. PUTNAM'S 50NS 
New York London 



Education 

AND THE 

Philosophical Ideal 



HORATIO W. DRESSER 

Author of " The Power of Silence," "The Perfect Whole," 
" Voices of Freedom," '' Living by the Spirit," etc. 



"You shall educate me, not as you will, but as I will." — Emerson 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1900 



5608 



o 



* OCT 4 1900 

Copyright eotry 



SECOND COPY. 

LWiiveiHd to 

OfiDtS DIViSION, 
OCT 13 1900 



W^ 



Copyright, 1900 
By HORATIO WILLIS DRESSER 



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
By G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Ube ftnfcfterbocftet pxces, l^cxo j^ovti 



PREFACE 

THE doctrine of this book is not put forward as 
a mere theory of education. In its pages 
education passes imperceptibly into life, and life 
becomes philosophical. Its theory is therefore 
rather an appeal to all that is noblest in life than a 
detailed educational scheme. The main thesis is 
that life itself is educational, that the individual 
possesses instincts which, if freely followed, lead 
the way to fullest self-expression and the service of 
humanity. Books, education, and experience furn- 
ish the occasion, put the soul in self-command ; the 
soul is the consequential factor. All life should 
therefore be adapted with the spiritual ideal in 
view. Self-knowledge, self-discipline, and self- 
mastery are of more importance than any know- 
ledge which the teacher can give. To these the soul 
should be free to add such educational opportunities 
as it demands. Thus to choose and thus to help, 
every soul, every teacher, must understand life phi- 
losophically, must dedicate his life to the Spirit. 
The educational ideal is thereby absorbed into the 
larger ideal of the spiritual life. Thus considering 
it, I have ventured even to include immortality as 
essential to this broader point of view. The value 



iv Preface 

found in this book will accordingly depend far more 
upon the reader's philosophical ability and spiritual 
experience than upon the knowledge of conventional 
theories and methods of education. 

It is always difficult to classify those who are on 
the move. But if after reading deeply in Chapters 
XI. and XII. the reader still persists in classifying 
this book, let him put it down as the work of an in- 
dependent philosophical student who writes because 
he must. Yet the spiritual ideal for which the book 
was chiefly written appears least in these philosophi- 
cal chapters. The deeper doctrine is stated in its 
most philosophical form in Chapter XIII. But 
the reader will be glad to turn from this more tech- 
nical discussion to the chapter on immortality, in 
which the spiritual ideal is given its broadest and 
most human expression. With the exception of the 
last chapter, and portions of a few others, the book 
is wholly new, scarcely a page having appeared in 
print in its present form. The book occupies an 
independent position, and, although a logical out- 
growth of them, is not to be judged by previous 
volumes, or by reference to any particular doctrine 
of which the author is thought to be an exponent. 
What is true, is true in its own right ; and because 
an author reveals leanings, it does not follow that 
he accepts all the tenets of a sect with which he is 
sometimes classed. 

Boston, July, 1900. 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 
I. The New Point of View 
II. Educational Ideals 

III. Equanimity 

IV. The Subconscious Mind . 
V. The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

VI. An Experiment in Education 
VII. The Expression of the Spirit 
VIII. An Ideal Summer Conference 
IX. The Ministry of the Spirit . 
X. The Mystery of Pain and Evil 
XI. The Philosophical Ideal 
XII. The Criteria of Truth . 

XIII. Organic Perfection 

XIV. Immortality .... 
Index 



PAGE 
I 

lO 

i8 

31 
52 
73 
93 
112 

125 
136 

143 
153 
173 
197 
221 
247 



EDUCATION AND 
THE PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAL 



INTRODUCTION 

Every ultimate fact is the first of a new series. — Emerson. 

IT is seldom that the general reader is treated to a 
more genuine surprise than in meeting for the 
first time a statement like the following from Emer- 
son's essay on Plato ^ : ** No power of genius has 
ever yet had the smallest success in explaining exist- 
ence. The perfect enigma remains." These words 
are surprising because, until one thinks deeply, one 
confidently believes that the mystery of life has 
been solved, at least by the wise men; and when 
the wisest seer of our times declares that existence 
is still an enigma, it is naturally very startling. 

Yet the wisest philosophers are the first to confess 
that ** Here we are," and that is the utmost we can 
say when we undertake to settle the ultimate of ul- 
timates. Why we exist we do not fully know. How 
the world came to be, we know not ; we know only 

^ Representative Men. 



2 Introduction 

what evolution has told us concerning its later his- 
tory. We have theories, but they are only theories, 
and a new hypothesis is no sooner propounded than 
fatally serious objections are raised. 

We know that the universe is a law-governed 
system, and science has advanced wonderfully since 
Emerson declared life to be still enigmatical. We 
long ago learned that every effect has a cause, and 
reason assures us that anterior to all causes must be 
the Uncaused, since something could not have 
sprung from nothing. But why the Uncaused 
should have manifested itself — if indeed the world 
ever had a beginning — we do not know. All we 
can say is, that it is probably its nature to manifest 
itself. Why the Uncaused should exist with such 
a nature is no less a mystery. We may say it was a 
necessity, but that is concealing ignorance behind 
a word. Our sincerest statement is simply, the uni- 
verse exists and we live in it. If we had a begin- 
ning, it is lost in the dim lights and shades of our 
obscurest dream memories, and no attempt to recall 
our history has thus far led to the discovery of what 
we most eagerly long to know. 

However, we are here. It is a delight to live and 
to try to solve the mystery. It is endlessly amusing 
to listen to those who believe they have solved it, 
and are eager to describe God and rehearse all his 
motives. It is a far greater delight, having confessed 
our ignorance, to settle down to the wisest occupa- 
tion in life, namely, to cultivate ourselves to the 
full, that we may learn what may be made out of life 



Introduction 3 

through the pursuit of truth, virtue, beauty, and the 
service of our fellowmen. 

After all, it would be annoyingly prosaic to solve 
the mystery. It would be stultifying to become 
perfect, to walk the golden streets day after day and 
find no change. The zest of pursuit, the novelty of 
ever-mutative days and months and years keeps the 
mind perpetually young. Life can never become a 
burden to those who, in all the freshness and en- 
thusiasm of healthy thought, awaken each morning 
to look out upon another day, eager to know what 
new mystery it holds. For a mind alert and active, 
life could not be better constituted than it is. The 
greater the enigma the better, if only it be so great 
that it can never be solved. 

Life, therefore, is through and through an experi- 
ment, and we the experimenters seek to make of it 
what we can, always remembering that what we 
make to-day may be outdone or discarded by what 
we make to-morrow. For no one knows what man 
is yet to be, how he is to live, and what powers are 
to be his — possibly on other planets. Every ideal 
is relative to the condition of mind of the seer who 
proclaims it. What is called *' the Absolute " is a 
pleasing conceit of speculative fancy. Forward is 
the only ultimate word. Every new summit is sure 
to reveal a novel and enticing landscape beyond. 

It would seem as though we might sometime 
complete the circuit. Then what ? Drearily repeat 
it ? No, then were the universe a deceit indeed, 
and only a machine after all. Rather say that two 



4 Introduction 

identically similar situations never occur. The 
novelty, the surprise sometimes even outbalances 
the familiar, the known. Every circumstance is a 
new combination. To the end, and that means 
that there is no end, life for the wide-awake soul is 
an experiment, and at any time new factors are 
likely to be discovered in our problem. 

This being so, it is wisdom to adjust ourselves at 
the beginning, and make up our minds that educa- 
tion will never cease. It is impossible nowadays 
" to prepare " for a science or profession, and 
thereby become masters of all that is known. Even 
Euclid's geometry, the authority for ages, now has 
a rival in the field. 

Once adopted, the attitude of constant readjust- 
ment is far from unpleasant. It is a healthy state 
of mind, this holding of all problems in solution. 
It immediately lifts one above time and place and 
the mind grows young with the ages. It does away 
with all the dogmatism, conceit, intolerance, and 
intellectual aristocracy which have encumbered 
human progress. It insists upon entire democracy 
of spirit, and the newest experimenter is welcomed 
as at any time likely to upset our profoundest 
theories. What a reformation this attitude would 
make if it were universal the mind can hardly con- 
ceive, since so few have as yet attained it. 

Of course the critic will immediately declare that 
this is a very extreme point of view, that there really 
is nothing new under the sun, and all this talk 
about readjustment is uncalled for. The disciple 



Introduction 5 

of progress is at once prepared to meet this objec- 
tion by admitting that what is truest is old, and 
that the new always supplements and assimilates 
the old. But the critic's attitude is not the state 
of mind of the one who most keenly appreciates the 
spirit of his age. One would not think of going to 
him for instruction. Even the old must be studied 
in new form, and it is not the conservative who 
teaches that. Let us rather follow those who err on 
the other side, and hereafter devote more of our 
time to the cultivation of the spirit of progress than 
to the preservation of what is hoary and reverend. 

If the reader accepts this point of view as applied 
to education, he will probably follow the clue even 
unto immortality. For if anything be experimental, 
it is the future life. This statement does not imply 
that the existence of a future life is in doubt, for 
there is abundant moral and spiritual evidence for 
immortality; but that each soul will enter the 
future as into the most enticingly novel experiment. 
It is only one step more to the premise that the 
universe itself is an experiment : it is given us by 
the Father to see w^hat development it will produce 
in us. Not that the universe is in any sense chaotic 
or inharmonious. Not that its continued existence 
is at all uncertain, or its goodness at all problem- 
atical. So far as its law-governed, wonderfully 
exact, wisely adapted, and nobly beautiful system 
is concerned, the universe is no experiment ; it is far 
from being an enigma. Mathematically and uni- 
versally it may be depended upon to return action 



6 Introduction 

for action. But each man learns its laws experi- 
mentally, and no man as yet knows all of these. 
For each it is also an experiment because certain of 
its materials are plastic. For each it is virtually 
what each man's enlightenment makes it. Thus 
the experiment enlarges as the soul unfolds. Mean- 
while the Father watches, and, watching, unifies 
the contributions of finite souls, not into the form 
of hard-and-fast fatalism, but into the plastic life 
which for ever makes anew for organic perfection. 
The eternal beauty presides over the becoming as 
well as over the remaining. Ever the Spirit whis- 
pers its word of promise as, pausing, it perennially 
passes onward, onward and upward for ever. The 
great secret of life is to feel that passing touch, to 
reveal its beauty to men. Words fail, yet suggest 
the indescribable. The Spirit will see to it that 
sometime all shall know the grandeurs and beauties, 
the peace and tenderness of that progressive vision. 
Thus, for better or worse, our point of view is 
progressive, and the reader may expect it to shift 
even while he turns from chapter to chapter. For 
there is no consistency possible to the growing mind, 
except harmony with the inner Spirit as it wells 
afresh into the inspirations of the new moment. 
Forms come and go. Terms, methods, and systems 
have their day. It is the Spirit that abides, and 
the Spirit dwells ever in the advancing life. It may 
again and again declare the same message, but what 
it reveals to-day is of supreme worth, not what it 
manifested in the past. For the gospel of the past 



Introduction 7 

is true to-day only in so far as it bears the new em- 
phasis of our time. Each day may reveal the same 
great laws and teach the same great lesson. But 
its meaning is apprehended in its fullest sense only 
when interpreted in the light of the new aspects 
which the progressive chemistry of our experiment 
reveals — ever crystallising, yet ever surprising the 
observer with new combinations. 

Lest the reader fear that our point of view be 
founded on quicksand, let us, however, supplement 
what at one time threatened to be mere agnosticism 
by turning from the experimental or human side to 
a brief statement of the system by which, starting 
with existence as given, the universe is to be inter- 
preted in this volume. 

1. The fundamental principle is that within and 
behind all that comes and goes, all that appears so 
enigmatical but is in deepest truth the product of 
wisest foresight, the great All-Father exists, the 
supreme Spirit, eternal, omnipresent ; the immanent 
source of all life, all power, all beings and forms, 
holding them, holding all experiments together as 
one harmonious system. 

2. The second great principle is the existence of 
the human soul, or the real, permanent, spiritual 
self in each of us, differing in each, in each having 
some spiritual meaning as related to the contests 
and triumphs of our personal and social evolution. 

3. The universe, visible and invisible, is the ex- 
pression or embodiment of Spirit, progressively re- 
vealing itself as system, reason, beauty, unity in 



8 Introduction 

variety, activity, repose, involution and evolution, 
power, peace, love, wisdom, the divine fatherhood 
and motherhood. 

4. Since Spirit is progressively revealed, human 
life is progressive and should be studied in the 
making. It is comprehensible only in the light of 
the advancing whole. 

The soul is born in ignorance of these great facts 
that it may through individual experience, contrast, 
experiment, struggle, pain, victory over physical sen- 
sation, and triumph over selfishness, through self- 
knowledge, self-control, and self-help, not only learn 
the value of the spiritual life, but uplift its fellows, 
and contribute to the glory and beauty of the 
spiritual universe. 

Thus evil springs from selfishness, which in turn 
is due to ignorance. Disease is disproportion, ugli- 
ness, neglect of the beautiful law of harmony which 
decrees that in no direction shall there be excess. 

Freedom from pain, evil, and their consequences 
comes not merely through soundness of physical 
life, through self-enlightenment, self-control, and 
poise, but through the dedication of self in all-round 
adjustment to the promptings of the creative Spirit. 

5. Within each of us there is a purposive instinct, 
a divine guidance, which, if faithfully followed, will 
lead into all truth. But as man is many-sided, 
physical, intellectual, moral, social, and spiritual, 
the laws of all these sides must be obeyed. Each 
prompting of the resident creative energy must be 
understood on its own plane. 



Introduction 9 

6. The great lesson of life is harmonious adjust- 
ment to the immanent Spirit, unceasingly welling 
up into manifestation as beauty of form and nobil- 
ity of life, guiding the soul in the development of 
originality of thought and strength of character, 
through the power of love and the sense of duty. 

7. The prime essential is therefore to awaken to 
spiritual consciousness, to knowledge of the fact that 
each of us is a social member of eternity in the re- 
public of the Spirit. For as all life is in reality 
spiritual, and the soul is by birthright a master, all 
conduct should be guided by the ideals of creative 
activity and spiritual service. Here and now, the 
soul dwells in an eternal spiritual world whence it 
may draw wisdom, life, and power at need. Here 
and now, it may transcend the bondages of space 
and time, so that death itself shall lose its ter- 
rors, and all experiences shall be understood from 
the point of view of progressively higher and higher 
planes. 

Man awakens to his full dignity as an individual 
soul only when thus viewing his life from the point 
of view of the whole, when educating himself as an 
eternal, universal being. He is first of all a crea- 
tive agent, building as no man ever built before. 
Through him the great universe reproduces itself 
afresh, through him the All-Father beholds himself 
anew. 



CHAPTER I 

THE NEW POINT OF VIEW 

The consummate product of a world of evolution is the character 
that creates happiness, that is replete with dynamic possibilities of 
fresh life and activity in directions for ever new. — John Fiske. 

THE remarkable transition period in which we 
live is witnessing a noteworthy change of atti- 
tude in regard to that persistently fascinating thing 
which we call human life. Instead of the old com- 
plaint at the existing order of things, a complaint 
which uttered its dying word in Mr. Moody's last 
sermon, ** Sin is the most real thing in the world," 
there is a growing belief, inspired by a sound phi- 
losophy of evolution, in the inherent goodness of 
man, the glorious possibility that every characteris- 
tic in man may sometime serve the Spirit. Instead 
of the old theory of a divine providence and a 
disjointed world, torn asunder by a persistently 
threatening adversary, we now have as a practical 
faith the knowledge which modern science has so 
long and so nobly inculcated, the knowledge that 
the world-process is a unit. Formerly, the crying 
question was, What shall we do to be saved ? Now, 
the problem is, Granted life, how may we make it 

lO 



The New Point of View 1 1 

better ? What is the meaning of life as it exists 
to-day, and what may it become by co-operative 
social and ethical activity ? 

Would-be reformers still unsparingly condemn 
the present social order, it is true, and urge upon 
us their artificial Utopian schemes. Many exceed- 
ingly earnest people spend their lives whetting dis- 
content among the labouring classes. But every 
deeply thoughtful person now knows that all reform 
begins within and with the individual, and spreads, 
through gradual evolution, out of to-day into to- 
morrow. Consequently, the progressive life of our 
time may be said to inspire those only who voice 
this new belief in the unity of the cosmos and the 
solidarity of the race. 

Although this change of attitude is already so 
marked in its effect upon theology and upon methods 
of reform, few people as yet realise its radical influ- 
ence upon the details of daily life. The majority 
know only that the old order is disappearing and 
that a new is coming, ushering in changes so great 
that no one is far-sighted enough to prophesy the 
result. It is well, then, before we consider the 
specific problems of this book, to examine this re- 
formation in detail — that is, so far as we are able to 
detect its scope and meaning. 

Many causes are assignable for the growth of this 
new spirit. Some would no doubt attribute it to 
the spreading of what may be called the new de- 
mocracy. In a sense, it is the direct outgrowth 
of the principles of liberty and equality on which 



12 The New Point of View 

the American republic is founded. But, undoubt- 
edly, the one factor without which all this de- 
velopment would have been impossible, is the rise 
and wide-spread acceptance of the doctrine of evolu- 
tion. Many secondary causes have played their 
part, but it was the contributions of Darwin, Wal- 
lace, Spencer, and their immediate predecessors 
and followers in the scientific world, which furnished 
the new background on which these other issues 
could be displayed to advantage. 

Philosophy had long ago prepared the way for 
belief in the unity of the world-process: it was 
modern science which supplied the evidence or 
proof, by showing that all forces are so many di- 
verse forms of one ultimate energy. The evidence 
once at hand, philosophers could place it in its true 
light, could carry out their doctrine more in detail ; 
and, beginning where science paused, show what 
this one energy is, how the whole great scheme of 
divine self-manifestation is realised in the wonder- 
ful processes which science had so graphically 
described. 

The cosmic process accepted as a unit, the second 
great advance was made through the discovery of 
the evolutionary origin of evil. What had before 
been either an absolute mystery, or the subject to 
which theology claimed exclusive right, now began 
to be very clear and to become generally under- 
stood. For when man's kinship with and indebted- 
ness to the lower animals was established, it at once 
became evident whence came those tendencies and 



The New Point of View 13 

powers which had heretofore been deemed the out- 
growths and penalties of original sin. 

The origin of evil accounted for, it was an easy 
step to the conclusion that, if the race is a unit, 
making for perfection, every faculty and power of 
man may be turned to good. Therefore, instead of 
condemning man's lower nature and calling it " bad," 
it henceforth became simply the lower as contrasted 
with the higher, not in itself evil, but simply unde- 
veloped. Thus was swept away the very foundation 
on which the entire orthodox theological structure 
rested. And although many people do not yet real- 
ise it, there was not the slightest reason left for belief 
in either the fall of man or a propitiatory saviour. 

Thus Jehovah was left without an occupation. 
His ofifice of miraculous creator had been taken from 
him by the discovery that the universe is eternal, 
and all new genera and species the product of un- 
told ages of evolution. And now he was deprived 
of his right not only as an interfering providence, 
but as an angry father whose son must be slain in 
order to assuage the terrible power of his burning 
wrath. 

But what a marvellously warm, loving, tender 
substitute modern science, with the help of philo- 
sophy, has provided ! Life is now known to be a 
unit because all its processes and forces reveal one 
immanent, omnipresent Spirit, ever manifesting 
wisdom, love, power, through the infinitely beauti- 
ful system in which he perpetually resides. It is 
safe to say that never in the history of thought has 



14 The New Point of View 

any revelation equalled in depth and grandeur this 
discovery of the immanent God, whose presence 
modern science has declared. Few people in our 
day will realise the stupendous importance of this 
great revelation. 

It has followed as a natural consequence of these 
new beliefs that, as the old pessimism disappeared 
and a sound meliorism took its place, all emphasis 
should be placed on the good, the ideal, or positive 
side, that the constructive spirit should displace 
the old intolerance and despair. The new attitude 
towards the world means implicit faith in the world, 
belief in men, hope for every darksome problem 
and for every crying issue. Hence our modern 
philanthropy, and the better part of what is called 
socialism, is the logical consequence of this determ- 
ination to help man, instead of trying to save him 
(in case he chooses to accept your creed). The 
larger sympathy of the age very beautifully voices 
this faith in the integrity of the race, and the earn- 
est zeal which once spent itself in anxious prayers 
for the lost has now become the practical endeavour 
which prompts the new democracy. 

There are social problems enough to be solved to 
employ all the energy of these earnest men and 
women who are trying to make life better. There 
is even more demand for conscientious zeal, for we 
now know the magnitude of our problem. But we 
also know the law which governs all reform, and so 
we can calmly and patiently adjust ourselves in 
conformity with the methods of evolution. 



The New Point of View 15 

Again, there is boundless inspiration in the 
modern belief in the dignity and worth of the in- 
dividual. This faith in the right of every human 
soul to exist is an indissoluble part of the new be- 
lief in society as a democratic organism. We all 
know nowadays that, however the social problem is 
solved, it must take equal account of the individual 
as such and the individual as member of a social 
whole. Each man must have every possible oppor- 
tunity to make what he can of himself, yet each is 
expected to contribute his share to the general de- 
velopment. Thus the individual is not the pitiable 
personage who might possibly have a chance under 
the old regime in case his sins were forgiven. He 
has the right to hold his head up and be a man in 
his own sphere. He is regarded as through and 
through free, — that is, potentially, — and as capa- 
ble of mastering any unfavourable circumstance in 
which he may be placed. 

This belief in individual freedom is, of course, 
much older than the modern doctrine of evolution. 
It began far back in the Middle Ages when the 
doctrines of Abelard, and others who believed in 
the rights of individual reason, spread in France and 
Italy ; and, combining with the spirit of the Renais- 
sance, prepared the way for the Protestant Reform- 
ation. Without this great movement and the reform 
instituted by Martin Luther and his contemporaries, 
the great scientific development of our century would 
have been impossible. For it was not until man 
was free to think for himself that the remarkable 



1 6 The New Point of View 

reaction from theology changed the balance of 
power from the authority of the Church to the 
authority of natural law. Yet it was not until this 
individualistic growth began to take the particular 
shape which Darwin and Spencer gave it that the 
change of attitude became complete. 

He who understands the new point of view must 
follow the guidance of the historical spirit, for the 
change is intelligible only in the light of all the 
causes which produced it, although coming to a 
climax with the acceptance of the doctrine of evolu- 
tion. And he who would intelligently choose his 
place in this great modern movement must take 
into account these its many sides, already briefly 
suggested. The new movement is both a new in- 
dividualism and a new democracy, an entirely dif- 
ferent idea of God and salvation, and a thoroughly 
altered conception of the oneness of life. The re- 
action began not only with the revolt of reason, but 
with the struggle between the popes and the states 
for supremacy. The ancient theological hierarchy 
was gradually overthrown, and the impetus then 
given did not cease until the world became not a 
papal but a secular unit, not a theological but a 
scientific scheme. And now, in these modern days, 
when everyone is becoming free in all respects, we 
look back upon the impressive ages wherein man 
struggled for the freedom we now enjoy, with pro- 
found satisfaction that at last we are unifying in one 
great system of evolutionary idealism all that was 
noble, all that was sacred, all that was true, in each 



The New Point of View 17 

of these branches of knowledge which separated 
themselves from the parent theological unity. 

Thus the new point of view is synthetic in a sense 
which no one will fully appreciate until society shall 
have advanced a few stages further. Then mankind 
will awaken to knowledge of the fact that there is a 
profound harmony not only between the processes 
of natural evolution, the activities of individual and 
social life, but between all these phases of develop- 
ment and that which we call the spiritual, that in 
reality the entire process is spiritual. Until then 
there is every reason to specialise in each of these 
departments, so that physical, individual, ethical, 
social, and religious evolution may be carried to the 
full, unconsciously contributing — while seeming to 
be struggling for separate existence — to the coming 
unity in the higher social state of the Spirit, in 
which all hostile differences shall be dissolved. 



CHAPTER II 



EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 



Education consists in leading man, as a thinking, intelligent being, 
growing into self-consciousness, to a pure and unsullied, conscious, 
and free representation of the inner law of divine unity. — Froebel. 

WITH every new discovery made by the human 
mind a need is felt for the reconstruction 
of our terminology and the rewriting of our text- 
books. The great discoveries of Galileo, Coperni- 
cus, and Newton, of Columbus and the navigators 
who succeeded him, are instances in point. This 
was pre-eminently the case with the publication and 
wide-spread acceptance of the doctrine of evolution 
whose profound influence we have considered in the 
foregoing chapter. Indeed, the acceptance of this 
doctrine meant so much that histories, scientific 
works, and philosophical text-books written pre- 
vious to the development of the new historical 
spirit are almost of no value except as curiosities. 
And the time will come when every treatise on 
theology or religion will be out of date unless it be 
rewritten in the light of the latest researches in 
comparative religion and the higher or historical 
criticism. 

In these modern days of unprecedented interest 
18 



Educational Ideals 19 

and development, when new discoveries are made 
more rapidly than even the scholar can take cognis- 
ance of them, there is special need for the re- 
construction of all theories of education. Many 
important discoveries have been made of which 
education has not taken proper account. This is 
due to the fact that the world in general has not 
given these discoveries the recognition which they 
deserve, and because education is still largely in 
subjection to influences which have not yet re- 
sponded to the most advanced thought of our time. 

I refer not merely to the contributions of evolu- 
tion, as already considered, but to discoveries in 
regard to the higher or spiritual nature of man, 
studies which, because of their deep significance, 
demand a reformation in many of our standards. 
Historically speaking, these discoveries, like those of 
scientific evolutionists, are not wholly new. They 
date far back to ancient India; they were made 
and remade in Palestine ; there have been seers in 
all ages and in all civilised lands who understood 
their transcendent importance. But it has remained 
for our own age to realise the practical value of these 
great revelations, and to place them on a basis 
where, in connection with the philosophy of evolu- 
tion, they may become potent factors in all future 
education. 

What these discoveries are we shall consider from 
chapter to chapter, since they will appear in our dis- 
cussion in their proper places as practical factors in 
daily life. Suffice it at this point that in general 



20 Educational Ideals 

they relate to the soul as the highest centre of all 
evolution, the home of individuality and the fund- 
amental reality in all thought, our life in mind, our 
closest communion with each other. These dis- 
coveries therefore bear an intimate relation to the 
great doctrine of the immanent Spirit. They are 
candidates for a yet higher point of view than that 
of mere evolution, namely, the attempt to trace 
evolution to its source in that spiritual involution 
which is the very life and cause of the stupendous 
variety of the visible world. 

From the point of view of the soul, studied in re- 
lation to the immanent Spirit, the chief function of 
life is spiritual creativeness. The soul is part and 
parcel of the process of creation. It is potentially 
master of forces and tendencies which, seen from 
the lower point of view, limit and imprison us on 
every side. Its function is therefore in marked 
contrast to the part assigned it by conventional 
education. 

Current education exists largely for the training 
of the intellect. The standards are intellectual, the 
methods are the results of ages of intellectual evolu- 
tion. Without these methods our universities could 
not exist. Surely no one who understands the hu- 
man mind doubts the wisdom of this. We must 
have training, discipline, accuracy, system, if we 
are to have education in the highest sense. Nature 
is a system. Human society is a law-governed or- 
ganism. The entire universe is regulated by law. 
We must therefore have trained minds to interpret 



Educational Ideals 21 

that law. There is nothing more deplorable in cer- 
tain kinds of so-called spiritual doctrine than vague- 
ness, mysticism, disloyalty to fact. We need more 
and more those who appreciate what a fact is, who 
know how to state it, free from the preconceptions, 
prejudices, and inclinations which so often warp and 
distort. One of the greatest needs of this or any 
age is the thinker, he who understands the laws of 
the universe as revealed in history, in nature, and 
in human society ; who is capable of working out 
life's problems, aided but not hampered by books 
and men. 

Yet, when all this has been said, there remains 
the danger, and it has always been a threatening 
one, that the higher nature may be crowded out by 
the intellect. By the higher nature I mean our 
finest feelings, our intuitions, insights, inspirations, 
spiritual faculties, the love of all that is noblest, 
and the contemplative life, or worship, of the soul. 
Every mind in which the scientific interest is strong, 
and the higher nature strong, too, finds it necessary 
to be watchful lest analysis intrude on the sacred 
domain of insight, and, rudely treading there, de- 
clare that there is no holy ground which science 
shall not call her own. 

I venture to lay down the proposition that educa- 
tion can fulfil its highest purpose only by promoting 
to the front rank this same neglected higher nature, 
by insisting that spirit shall be first and form second- 
ary, that the inspirations of the intuitive faculty are 
our most important sources of knowledge, our surest 



22 Educational Ideals 

guides to truth. The reasons for affirming this pro- 
position will become clear by a consideration of the 
aims and possibilities of education. 

Since education is to fit man to live, — that is, to 
train him to be an all-round being, not merely prac- 
tical but beautiful, not only individual but social, a 
thinker, a worker, and a master, — its true basis is 
practical knowledge of the art of life; it must not 
be separated from life. And life in its fullest sense 
is not merely physical and intellectual, but spiritual ; 
it springs from the invisible Reality or Spirit behind 
all evolution, and is complete only through the reali- 
sation of the spiritual ideal. 

Without stopping at this point to examine the 
reasons for this statement, and without attempting 
to justify the adoption of the criterion of spiritual 
creativeness as the supreme test, let us simply 
enounce it as the broadest ideal, that the aim of 
education is the creative expression of the God or 
Spirit in us through individuality. If life is ultim- 
ately spiritual, if it manifests the Spirit, it is this 
ideal which alone gives to education the central 
principle, the unity which it must possess in order 
to be consistently progressive from infancy to so- 
called old age. Fundamentally speaking, the de- 
velopment of the spiritual individual must ever be 
of more consequence than the development of the 
scholar or the training of the merchant. For the 
scholar is essentially the man of learning, the mer- 
chant is merely practical, while the spiritual in- 
dividual is the man of life in its fullest, broadest 



Educational Ideals 23 

sense ; he who not only teaches men how to think, 
and how to earn their daily bread, but who shows 
them how to find and to manifest that Spirit to 
whose living presence we owe all that we are. 

Thus broadly considered, education is the art of 
expression, the expression of the highest that is in 
us through all-sided development. Its ends are : to 
teach men the laws of the universe, both visible and 
invisible ; to teach men how to reason ; to show 
them how to meet the strenuous life ; to make clear 
the supremacy of the soul over circumstance; to 
attain the highest ideals of art, poetry, music, 
beauty; and, highest of all, to develop sympathy, 
to teach unselfishness, the value and power of serv- 
ice. The educated man is he who is best fitted to 
serve his fellows, he who dedicates his life to the 
highest ideals of brotherhood. 

All these ideals are fundamentally traceable to 
the great fact that each soul is a unique individual, 
a fresh experiment. Each bears a personal relation 
to the Father. Each has its particular message 
from God to man. Each has its own problem to 
solve. 

Consequently, the history of the individual liberty 
for which our ancestors so long struggled is the 
record of the soul's evolution inspired by this di- 
vine ideal. The freedom of the soul is attained as 
rapidly as the conditions of natural, social, and in- 
tellectual evolution permit, until that time when, 
conscious of its real part in life, the soul begins to 
command its own circumstances. The individual 



24 Educational Ideals 

consciousness, understood, furnishes the data for 
the solution of the particular educational problem, 
and therefore gives the opportunity for the expres- 
sion of the particular divine message. The entire 
individual experience, from the dawn of self-con- 
sciousness through the school and college years, 
business and social life, the struggles with self, and 
the problems of the home, of marriage, and of one's 
life-work, is the education of the soul, the contest 
of the soul in its search for freedom and perfection. 
All the trials and tribulations, the obstacles and 
hardships, the struggle for health and the earnest 
endeavours for success, are parts of one spiritual 
process which includes every day and hour of life. 
There is nothing which is not educational. To him 
who understands its laws, every experience, small or 
great, is an opportunity for the triumph of the soul. 
I do not mean that this ideal is necessarily to be 
talked about from the start, — it cannot in its full 
sense be explained to the child ; for it is profound, 
all-inclusive, universal, and is to be fully grasped 
only after much thought and experience, — but that 
it is to be the implied ideal in every day and hour 
of the teacher's life, in the attitude of everyone 
not merely toward the child, but toward the man. 
In the home and in the schoolroom, it should mat- 
ter more whether love rules, whether there is pa- 
tience and mutual helpfulness, than whether mere 
learning is acquired. All learning is to be subordi- 
nate to the learner, all vocations are to be subor- 
dinate to the man. First we must have men of 



Educational Ideals 25 

character, pure, strong, and true. And this ideal 
must never be lost sight of; we must never forget 
that we are primarily dealing with souls. 

** Man, whatever else he may be," says Professor 
James, in his admirable book, Talks to Teachers on 
Psychology : and to Students on some of Life s Ideals,^ 
" is primarily a practical being, whose mind is given 
him to aid in adapting him to this world's life." 
Taking account, then, of the fact that " conduct is 
three fourths of life," man's spiritual education 
must aim first of all at the production of men and 
women of action, those who, instead of leading a 
life of good intentions, show by what they do that 
they really believe in the Spirit. For our ideal is 
not the production of dreamers, vague theorisers, 
and visionary skeletons. It means that man shall 
not be less but more practical than the common- 
sense men of affairs of our time. It means the ele- 
vation of conduct to its true place, — that is, it must 
spring from the highest centre within. 

For it is clear that education is incomplete unless 
it enables a man to meet all the practical demands 
of life. Education means not merely self-expres- 
sion, but self-knowledge, and the progressive ap- 
plication of this knowledge to conduct. The 
educated man is the man of resources, and we pro- 
pose to add to these. The educated man is he 
whose trained mind, his ready perceptions, and his 
repose, enable him to adapt himself to any situation 
rn life, whether in relation to nature, to society, or 

^ew York : Henry Holt & Co., 1899. 



26 Educational Ideals 

the struggles of his own interior evolution. He is 
the man who understands and controls his forces. 
And this means everything, from physical impulse 
to spiritual inspiration. 

We must reiterate and emphasise the fact that 
education is for the whole of life. It is to prepare 
one to live in the fullest, noblest sense. The de- 
sideratum is the evolution of the ideal man, — the 
man of power, physically strong, intellectually mas- 
terful, morally sound, and socially complete. He is 
to represent the universe from an individual point of 
view. He is to seize upon some aspect of life and 
express it as no man has expressed it before — to 
write about it, to paint it, to understand its laws, 
reveal its beauty, or turn it to practical account for 
the benefit of humanity. 

It is evident that an entire philosophy of human 
nature and the universe is involved in this educa- 
tional ideal. We must understand the philosophy 
before we can intelligently apply the ideal. 

What is the central purpose of life, so far as our 
limited knowledge permits us to define it ? From 
the divine point of view, it is evidently the mani- 
festation through evolution, order and degree, genus 
and species, in one universe or system, of power, 
form, beauty, life, love. There are as many distinct 
ideals as there are kinds of beings and things in the 
world of evolution. There are ideals of physical 
organisation and form, ideals of mental life and 
character. Man, the epitome of all beings, evi- 
dently stands in a measure for all these ideals, 



Educational Ideals 27 

although many physical ideals attain a higher de- 
gree of perfection among the lower animals. Yet 
he is, without doubt, to be judged by the highest 
that is in him, always reserving a large sphere for 
future ideals and possibilities as yet unknown to the 
wisest of men. 

If man is an immortal spirit, he is to be truly 
understood only from the point of view of his eter- 
nally progressive soul-life. It is not primarily for 
the body that he lives, not as a financier or states- 
man that he is to be permanently known, but as a 
soul. 

That this is not yet fully the ideal even of the new 
education is evident from the fact that so much 
stress is still laid on mere acquirement. But, if this 
high ideal is to be realised, soul-knowledge must be 
held in greater esteem than knowledge of books. 
This is a familiar thought to exponents of the new 
education. But I mean far more than is ordinarily 
understood by self- or soul-knowledge. 

The term ** self," as used in the psychologies and 
treatises on education now in vogue, refers to the 
mind in its association with the brain; that is, as 
feeling, thought, will. It is a sort of abstract self, 
and is studied apart from the vital problems of daily 
living. 

The larger knowledge of self of which I speak 
grows out of concrete experience, contests with ill- 
health, sorrow, and suffering. It includes the re- 
sults of psychical research, the therapeutic value of 
thought, the power of hope, and a practical idealistic 



28 Educational Ideals 

philosophy. It gives great prominence to the study 
and development of the subconscious mind as a 
potent factor in spiritual education, and, as already 
suggested, is deeply concerned with the soul as a 
creative agent, an inspired organ of the divine 
nature, likely to improve upon even the highest 
ideals of present-day existence. 

In order to pursue the educational ideal from this 
point of view, there must obviously be a radical re- 
form in our school system. If poise, soul-culture, 
and spiritual service are of supreme worth, we must 
put an end to all forcing, rushing, and cramming. 
There must be moderation, equanimity in all things. 
There must be times for silence, meditation, and 
inner rest. The daily life must be so arranged that 
there shall be opportunity for the spontaneous de- 
liverances of the subconscious mind. That which 
profits the soul must be held in higher repute than 
that which stimulates the proud intellect or adds 
money to one's purse. 

Obviously, too, the teacher must add a new ac- 
quirement. He must set the example of spiritual 
repose, self-control, and patience. He must teach 
more by what he is than by what he says. He 
should inspire in his pupils a love for that which 
does not perish. To do this, he must have time ; 
and, in order to have time, he must have fewer sub- 
jects to teach. This means that the pressure system, 
under which the boy is compelled to prepare on a 
certain number of subjects in a given length of time, 
must give way to ideals of beauty and art, which 



Educational Ideals 29 

insist first of all that everything shall be done well, 
that one's work shall be a finished performance. 

This educational method, of course, means that 
the reform must begin at the root of American 
nervousness and rush. Equanimity must become 
hereditary. Children must be born on a higher 
plane, from spiritual rather than from physical mo- 
tives. Our boys and girls must be better equipped 
from the start, and from infancy to maturity be 
instructed in accordance with the spiritual ideal. 

The higher education, therefore, begins long be- 
fore the birth of the child. The parents must first 
rid the mind of the old theology, the old fear and 
pessimism, then devote their lives to the new ideals 
now so widely accepted, which we have considered 
in the foregoing chapter : the belief in the inherent 
goodness of men, salvation through character, and 
also the ideal of the attainment of perfect health 
through beauty of thought, righteousness of life, 
and spiritual self-understanding. 

Prenatal influence, therefore, has much to do with 
the future education of the child. The mother 
should live as far as possible in an atmosphere of 
idealism, of hope, of practical optimism. Her 
thoughts should be centred upon the broadly in- 
clusive spiritual ideal. Her home should be the 
meeting-place of all that is ennobling. It should 
be a house of peace, of moderation, of love, so that 
the strongest desire implanted upon the growing 
organism shall be for the fruits of the Spirit. If the 
child is brought forth in love, not in passion, in 



30 Educational Ideals 

peace, not in excitement, its education will proceed 
far more easily ; and in due time it will attain a high 
level in its contests with conventional life. 

Spiritual education is, therefore, universal educa- 
tion. It applies to every detail, to every plane of 
life. It fits man to adjust himself to and under- 
stand the entire universe, to become truly universal. 
Current education falls short of this because its 
ideals are not high enough, because it has not yet 
made use of the recent discoveries concerning the 
subconscious mind, prenatal influence, and the power 
of thought on the body. 

That the reformation of our educational methods 
is a difficult task is at once admitted. Much preju- 
dice will be encountered, and conventionality will 
assert its might. It will be some time yet before 
there are teachers competent to teach this highest 
education. But simply to formulate the ideal is to 
make a beginning. The ideal will grow in power 
each time it is considered, and in due course we 
shall have schools specially adapted for the training 
of those who are to inculcate the spiritual ideal. 



CHAPTER III 

EQUANIMITY 

When everything is in its right place within us, we ourselves are 
in equilibrium with the whole work of God. — Amiel's Journal. 

A FEW years ago the president of a Western 
college for women had occasion to visit the 
women's colleges in the East, notably Bryn Mawr, 
Vassar, and Smith, and to make a comparative study 
of the young women in these colleges. The natural 
supposition was that the health of the New England 
young women was superior to that of the Pennsyl- 
vania students. But, to her surprise, the observer 
found that the Pennsylvania young women were gen- 
erally healthier and stronger. Further inquiry re- 
vealed the fact that a large percentage of the students 
in Bryn Mawr at that time were Quakers, or of Qua- 
ker descent. Here, then, was the reason. The serene 
life of the Friends resulted in greater health than 
the more robust life of " bleak New England." No 
better argument could be found in favour of serenity. 
** An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure " ; and the question arises, Is it not better, on 
the whole, to live that kind of life which makes dis- 
ease impossible than to spend one's substance on 

31 



32 Equanimity 

drugs and doctors ? If so, let us follow out this 
great thought as essential to our ideal of many- 
sided, therefore of sound education, and as an illus- 
tration of some of the discoveries concerning the 
inner life of man which we have considered in the 
foregoing chapter. For we have laid it down as a 
prime essential of the spiritual ideal in education 
that its exponents shall possess equanimity, or 
inner poise. 

In the case of the Friends the results are doubt- 
less largely spontaneous. It is the habit of their 
life to wait in silence, and they already possess as an 
hereditary virtue that which so many are now seek- 
ing self-consciously. Is it possible to combine the 
serenity of the Friends with the heightened activity 
of a disciple of scientific evolution and the zealous 
seeker after more and more spiritual truth ? 

Let us first regard the problem from the lower 
point of view. What is the physiology of poise ? 
Careful scientific investigation ^ has revealed the 
interesting fact that the functions of the body are 
maintained through rhythmic action. If this 
rhythm be interfered with, of course the normal 
functioning of the organs is disturbed. Anything 
which disturbs the sympathetic nervous system is 
likely to affect this natural rhythm. For example, 
violent emotion quickens the rhythmic action of the 
heart. Anger causes the capillaries to contract. 
Fear reaches the very extremities. 

^ See The Abdominal Brain, by Byron Robinson. Clinic Pub- 
lishing Co., Chicago. 



Equanimity 33 

In general terms, any emotional excess tends to 
disturb the functions of the body. Passion leads 
naturally to the development of superfluous heat, 
which must be thrown off through the general 
system. An excessive amount of food put into the 
stomach of course disturbs the natural rhythm of 
that organ. Excessive stirrings of the sex nature 
are likely to result in disturbances of the throat or 
in undue heating of the eyes and brain. The results 
usually bear specific names, and the victim, ignorant 
of the cause, supposes that he has caught an exter- 
nal disease. 

It is obvious that many diseases are directly trace- 
able to excess, to an abnormal amount of heat, over- 
eating, and the almost innumerable excesses which 
spring from nervous hurry and tension. If man 
really wishes to put himself in a thoroughly sound 
condition, he must strike at the heart of all these 
difficulties by adopting as his absolute rule, Nothing 
to excess. 

Yet physical excess is only one phase of the sub- 
ject. In order to understand the power of equan- 
imity as a source of health, we must inquire more 
deeply into the nature of disease. 

In the past, man has been accustomed to regard 
disease as something which seized him from outside, 
whatever his inner condition. It has also been be- 
lieved that medicine could of itself cure, even pre- 
vent, nearly all diseases; despite the obvious fact 
that, so far as illness is due to excess, its permanent 
cure is moderation and equanimity. But in these 



34 Equanimity- 

days of more sensitively organised men and women 
medicine has repeatedly failed, and man has begun 
to think and to discover that disease is a disturbance 
from within, and that if the organism is in good 
condition he need not fear disease. Thus wisdom 
has been brought more and more into play, and dis- 
placed drugs. For more depends on the way a man 
conducts himself, upon his regulation of the forces 
within him, than upon any external condition by 
which he can possibly be surrounded. 

Thus when wisdom began to accomplish what 
drugs could not, man became sufficiently alive to 
his necessities to investigate the whole subject of 
the influence of mind upon the bodily organism. 
The question flashed over his mind, What is the 
greatest power in man, the physical, the intellectual, 
or the spiritual ? Why is it that the mother's love 
sometimes comes to the rescue and saves her child, 
when the doctor declares that the child must die ? 
Why do people rise up and declare that they ''will 
get well," when there is apparently no hope ? Why 
do the fearless sometimes go where contagious dis- 
eases are rampant, and come away unharmed ? And 
why are superstitious people healed by faith in 
sacred relics ? ^ Surely, there is a principle here ; 
and that which is wrought unconsciously might be 
accomplished consciously by one who understands 
the laws of mind — so man has reasoned. 

' For the detailed account of such instances, see The Influence of 
the Mind on the Body, by D. H. Tuke, M.D. Philadelphia : H. C. 
Lea, 1884.. 



Equanimity 35 

Following out this line of reasoning, if we consult 
the ablest physicians of the day, we are told that 
many kinds of disease are simulated and communi- 
cated by fear, even when there are no physical con- 
ditions to give rise to the disease. We are informed 
that fear can not only kill, but cure (in cases where 
nothing short of a fright will arouse a person) ; that 
many cures are wrought by medicines which have 
no virtue whatever, bearing Latin names, and given 
because the patient demanded something ; that faith 
in the physician oftentimes has more to do with a 
cure than any kind of treatment the doctor can ad- 
minister; in fine, that the mind has far more influ- 
ence in the cause and cure of disease than any 
physician has yet been able to discover. 

Have we not been mistaken, then, in attributing 
so much power to germs, contagious atmospheres, 
medicines, and physical conditions ? What is it in 
us which feels all our conditions, thinks about them, 
brings its beliefs and fears into play, anxiously 
awaits the doctor's verdict, is swayed this way and 
that according as faith wavers or hope enters ? Is 
it not the mind ? And what thinks, wills, and acts 
through the mind, compelling it to change its be- 
liefs, to cast off fear and the bondage of physical 
sensation, declaring that it will be well ? It is the 
soul, the invisible man, the real power behind the 
throne — in the majority of men still the slave to its 
own subjects. 

Surely, these physical features are not the man. 
It is not the body which feels. The soul expresses 



3^ Equanimity 

itself through the body by means of the mind, or 
consciousness. It is the soul that acts, compelling 
the body to respond. It is the soul that possesses 
the intelligence. And the soul can be complete 
master of its states of consciousness, and through 
them master of the body. 

In order, then, to understand the effect of the 
mind upon the body, we must remember that the 
soul has the power to set the physical forces in mo- 
tion, and either to keep them in equilibrium or start 
them into unwonted activity. One can, for example, 
arouse one's self from reverie, and instantly start the 
body in rapid motion toward the door and out over 
the fields at full speed. It is a mental decision, re- 
sulting in volition and heightened brain activity, 
which brings about this sudden change. 

Again, suppose one hears the news of a terrible 
accident in which a dear friend may have been 
killed. The mind is at once thrown into a fever of 
excitement, followed by an emotional state which 
rapidly extends throughout the body, increases the 
beating of the heart, changes the facial expression, 
quickens the circulation, and causes a strained con- 
dition of the nerves from which, unless one knows 
how to avoid it, there is likely to be a nervous re- 
action. 

The instantaneous effect of anger illustrates still 
more forcibly the power of mind to translate its 
emotions into physical changes. The rapid phys- 
ical response — the reddened face, the contracted 
muscles, the clenched fists, and the blow which 



Equanimity 37 

follows, all result from the remarkable little thought 
which swiftly gives its assent to the angry impulse. 
The whole organism must pay the penalty of that 
decisive word. 

Physiology assures us that with the slightest in- 
crease in the intensity of our emotions there is a 
rush of blood to the head. Recent experiments 
show that there is a change in the amount of blood 
flowing to the brain whenever the mind turns in a 
more active direction. Simply to turn from a book 
in one's native tongue to the more difficult reading 
of an unfamiliar passage in a foreign language — for 
example, a passage in Homer — is sufficient to cause 
this heightened blood-flow.^ If we were able to 
observe the effects, we should probably discover a 
response in the entire organism in proportion as the 
mental state varies from a mere passing thought to 
a violent emotion, such as great anger or sudden 
fright. 

But it is well to repeat and emphasise what is a 
familiar thought nowadays, — that the emotional re- 
sponse is equally effective in the opposite direction. 
As surely as hate contracts and depression draws 
one into self, so surely does love expand, while hope 
lifts one above trouble. Everyone knows the effect 
of the encouragement, good cheer, and love which 
the buoyant friend brings into a room where depres- 
sion reigns. A healthy, energetic, optimistic mind 
strikes the keynote for an entire company. The 

^ Fear, Angelo Mosso, translated by E. Lough. Longmans, 
Green & Co., 1896. 



38 Equanimity 

influence of an unsympathetic or hostile mind is very 
quickly perceived, even when there is strong unison 
of thought among all others who are present. Thus 
one might go on, accumulating fact after fact, to 
show that the mind not only exerts a powerful in- 
fluence on the body, but on its fellow-minds, not 
merely in regard to health and disease, but in all de- 
partments of human relationship. And we shall see 
that the spiritual atmosphere created by the mother 
and the teacher is one of the most potent factors in 
education. 

The mind need not be swayed by emotion and 
passion, it need not be the slave of fear or of physi- 
cal sensation, if the soul comes to consciousness of 
its power, and turns the thought into another chan- 
nel. He who possesses sufficient self-control may 
stop these trouble-bearing thoughts before they 
go forth to action. He can cultivate those 
states of mind which invite health, happiness, 
and peace. He may make hope a fine art, trust 
a habit, and love a boon companion. And so, 
little by little, the soul may not only master the 
mind, but with equal success extend its dominion 
to all parts of the body and keep it in perfect health 
or equilibrium. 

Much of this may sound vague and impossible at 
first. But put it to the test. Observe yourself; 
and when fears, violent emotions, and painful sen- 
sations arise, pause for a moment, gather your 
forces, quiet the mind, and compel the rising activ- 
ities to subside. 



Equanimity 39 

If an angry, excited man were to rush up to you, 
urging you to join him in a venturesome under- 
taking, you would say: ** Let us be calm. Let us 
quietly reason together." Proceed in the same way 
with yourself. First find the quiet centre within, 
then calmly reason. Do not permit your mind to 
dwell upon the painful, the unpleasant, the selfish 
thought. Let the higher self (the Christ) command 
the lower self: ** Peace, be still!" ** I and my 
Father are one," the higher self says. Think of 
that. Live in that. Rise above all that is distress- 
ing, in the strength and confidence of the Spirit, the 
greatest power in the world, the conqueror of the 
flesh, the master of the mind. 

By this time, the reader is ready to leap to the 
conclusion that we are advocating a merely mental 
theory of health and healing. Not at all. We are 
contending for a recognition of both the physical 
and mental factors, for a sound mind in a sound 
body, a mind which draws upon its own resources 
and acquires mastery over the body. It is only in 
this broad sense that the problem of health becomes 
part of philosophical education, namely, through 
the lessons which pain may teach as a factor in self- 
development and harmonious self-expression. 

Take a test case. Two persons take a bicycle ride 
and become very much heated. They sit down to 
rest, and one of them ** takes cold " ; the other ex- 
periences no inconvenience, although he lies down 
upon the ground. The mental healer, defining 
disease as an " error of mind," declares that one 



40 Equanimity 

" believed " in taking cold, the other did not. Let 
us compare the lives of these two people. 

One has lived the conventional life, and has re- 
garded disease as something which everyone is 
likely to " catch." Consequently, he has had little 
ventilation in his room at night, has been afraid of 
draughts of air, afraid of the dampness in the air 
and the ground, afraid to go out in winter without 
an overcoat or in summer without a hat, and so on — 
the enumeration would fill pages. When winter 
underclothing has once been put on, he has not 
dared to take it off until late in May. He has taken 
medicine " to purify his blood." And he has 
always gratified his senses. 

The other has lived a natural life, has been much 
in the open air, and is at home in all kinds of 
weather. He enjoys an east wind. He is relaxed 
and happy on a hot day. His windows are wide 
open at night, in summer, fall, spring, and winter. 
He can change from thick to thin underclothing 
in midwinter without inconvenience. He wears an 
overcoat or not as he chooses. He eats pure food 
when he is hungry, and enjoys it; has never taken 
medicine; does not smoke or drink; he leads a pure 
life. 

Now is it the belief or the mode of hfe which is 
responsible for the immunity from disease in the 
one case and the constant slavery to it in the other ? 
If the conventional man becomes a convert to the 
mental-healing doctrine to-day, will he escape all 
disease to-morrow ? Or does his belief profit him 



Equanimity 4^ 

in so far as, year by year, he acquires the habits of 
the man who is in harmony with nature ? 

To be sure, a man must change his belief in order 
to conquer disease. But what is the decisive factor, 
day by day, and year by year, the belief or the 
mode of physical and mental life ? 

Habitual disbelief in disease may have something 
to do with the immunity from it on the part of the 
bicyclist who does not take cold. But is it not his 
well-ordered life which constitutes his real freedom ? 

It seems strange that man has so long delayed 
the discovery that it is his life, his state of develop- 
ment, that causes disease, that disease is disturbed 
rhythm. But the case is perfectly plain. The 
natural rhythm of all the functions is maintained 
only when the body is kept in equilibrium. The 
slightest variation from the normal in any part is 
likely to affect the rhythm of the whole. The re- 
sult is accurately determined by the disturbing 
cause. 

The equilibrium of the body is maintained through 
the equilibrium of the emotions, through equanim- 
ity, and through the proper care and development 
of the body. Man must control both his mind and 
his body if he wishes to be sound. The only way 
to keep the mind habitually even is by living a 
poised life. Poise is thus the keynote of all the 
harmonies of the body. This is the price which 
Nature demands of man ; and if he is unwilling to 
pay it, he must suffer. If he habitually pays it, he 
may acquire perfect health. 



42 Equanimity 

Whenever the equilibrium of the body is dis- 
turbed, there is one sovereign remedy; namely, to 
seek poise, then let Nature restore harmony. There 
is seldom need of doctors, there is no need of medi- 
cine after man has discovered his own resources. It 
is foolish to fear. Nature is competent. But one 
must meet her inexorable demands. 

If you are nervously wrought up, settle down, 
quietly, peacefully, restfully. Do not wholly ** let 
go." That is an extreme. Discover the central 
point between passivity and activity ; namely, poised 
co-operation. 

If there is violent disturbance of the body, take 
complete rest, soothe the mind, quiet the nerves, 
banish all fear, and give the disturbance full oppor- 
tunity to subside. Remember that the disturbance 
originated in your own body, and that the resident 
forces of the body are able to restore you, if you 
maintain equanimity. 

Here is an illustration from actual experience, the 
facts of which I can vouch for. " A number of years 
ago," my informant tells me, " I suffered a very 
acute pain for thirty-six hours. The pain was so 
acute that I could not hasten the process, and no me- 
chanical means brought me any relief. My friends, 
unaware of my inner resources, thought I was about 
to die. But I had absolutely no fear. I was confi- 
dent that I could weather the gale. Accordingly, I 
maintained my poise, an even, steady attitude of 
trust and peace. In due time Nature carried off 
the obstruction, and I lost consciousness in sleep." 



Equanimity 43 

Is it possible to estimate the good that could be 
done by extending to humanity this priceless power 
of consciously maintaining poise, this trust in Na- 
ture, and this freedom from fear ? Even the surgeon 
might be dispensed with in certain cases. An in- 
stance from my own life is at point. 

About fifteen years ago I fell heavily upon the 
floor. I experienced no pain at the time; but a 
swelling appeared on the right leg, and I was lame 
for several months. All attempts to remove the 
obstruction by mental means were futile. On the 
contrary, the pain increased until I was compelled 
to give up all exercise. In due time an opening 
appeared near the knee ; after a few weeks a sliver 
of bone, about two inches in length, was cast out, 
and the organism at once recovered. This was a 
year after the accident. It had required all that 
time to perform Nature's work. There was nothing 
to do but wait, and assuage the pain by an attitude 
of trust and poise. 

But the chief purpose of this chapter is to em- 
phasise the value of poise as a preventive. If 
equanimity is a habit of life, if the life is pure, if no 
medicines, impure foods, or stimulants are put into 
the body, the physical organism is lifted to the 
plane where disease is impossible. There must be 
a physical correspondence to the purity of mind. 
Merely to think healthful thoughts is not sufficient. 
The body must be controlled through and through. 
( The life must be moderate in every particular, \i 
moderation in eating, moderation in physical work, ■ 



44 Equanimity 

moderation in mental work, in social life, in every 
department of daily activity. 

All these departments need special consideration. 
In one direction after another one must study the 
natural impulses until the habit or activity in ques- 
tion has been mastered and brought into subjec- 
tion to the headquarters of poise in the centralised 
soul. 

To rule means first to understand. In order to 
understand, one must investigate in detail. And 
probably the best method is the analysis of some 
excess. Therefore trace your physical excesses back 
to their origin until, by overcoming the cause, you 
at last conquer the effect. 

No one rules his body who lacks poise. And 
poise in a general way is, as I have shown, the cen- 
tralised result of varied endeavours to understand 
and control. No one rules the body who eats too 
much, who eats rapidly, who uses intoxicants, to- 
bacco, or drugs, who is the victim of any kind of 
sexual excess, who has disease or vice in any form — 
the list is too long to print. 

The total problem, then, is this. It matters little 
what are your abstract affirmations, what your re- 
ligion is, or what you profess to believe but do not 
practise. The vital consideration is, What use are 
you making of your forces ? Undoubtedly, each of 
us is the recipient of a certain amount of force, a 
stream of power playing persistently upon us. If 
we are perfectly adjusted, the sum-total of force 
produces a sum-total of harmony. If any obstruc- 



Equanimity 45 

tion enters, there is discord somewhere. If poise is 
lacking in any degree, there is waste of force. 

The problem is simply the economy of force. It 
is like the problem of the mechanic, or the electri- 
cian : how to avoid the enormous waste of mechanical 
power. No man has fully solved the problem in his 
own life in whom there is waste of force. Man 
must learn how, in every particular, to spend his 
power to the best advantage. 

Affirmations and ideals are the merest steps in the 
right direction : it is work that tells. Stop yourself 
while you work, and make a study of your particu- 
lar occupation, that you may attain poise in that 
direction. 

Observe the successful woodsman : he pauses or 
rests between each blow of the axe, he chops 
rhythmically; whereas the untrained man follows 
one blow with another in nervous succession. 

It is more fatiguing for a tall man to walk slowly 
with one who takes short steps than to walk thrice 
as many miles at his natural rhythmic gait. In all 
kinds of work there are natural temperamental limits 
within which one can do an enormous amount of 
work with a minimum expenditure of energy. The 
secret of work with the minimum degree of fatigue 
is poised rhythmic action through economy of nerve 
force. 

This is a vitally important point for every student, 
for every teacher, for- every parent. Each must 
learn in his own way the great secret of economic 
work. 



46 Equanimity 

This is the secret of all life. 

This is Nature's line of least resistance, the secret 
of her marvellous power. For Nature works, not 
by fits and starts, not through excess or haste, but 
through patient evolution, measured rhythmic ac- 
tion, and the economy of force. 

Hence one may generalise, and say : Only gradual, 
rhythmic change is permanent. All revolutions and 
excesses are diseases; that is, discords. If I strain 
myself to attain an abstract ideal by affirming that 
I am perfect now, or that I can see, when in deepest 
truth I am imperfect, or blind, the chief result is 
nervous strain; for all departures from normal, 
steady, concrete work in which energy is conserved 
are excesses for which one must pay the penalty. 

It is utterly impossible for any healer or minister 
to give this one infallible remedy for all discord. 
It is a problem for each individual to work out 
patiently and persistently for himself. It is a part 
of our whole education. Start with the fact that 
you are a self-conscious, self-acting soul, played 
upon night and day, moment after moment, by a 
tireless stream of force. In so far as you under- 
stand and are adjusted, harmony results. In so 
far as you lack poise or oppose, you suffer. Not 
all the drugs in Christendom, not all the treatments 
that were ever heard of, can accomplish for you that 
which is absolutely and always an affair of conscious 
personal adjustment. What you think is of sec- 
ondary consequence. For it may or may not as- 
sume dynamic form. It is your vital attitude, your 



Equanimity 47 

habitual physical, sexual, cerebral relation to the 
forces that environ you, which regulates the result. 

For poise is not a mere thought. It is not simply 
an ideal. It is a condition, an actual living relation, 
the centre of control of a complex organism. It 
is the kind of vibration you send out, the vibratory 
response which harmonises with the vibratory ac- 
tivities of the body. It is an attitude of power, a 
control of power, a habit both of life and of thought ; 
and if you want to make your thought dynamic, 
use power. Direct your soul-power so that it shall 
impinge upon and control your mental and physical 
powers. 

Equanimity, then, is a dynamic attitude. It is 
attained on the highest plane by adjustment to the 
concrete activities of Spirit. He who is at one with, 
is adjusted to, the divine, creative life, has that 
power with which he may reach down to and con- 
trol every atom, every power, that is in him. Poise 
must be spiritual if it is to be perfect. As such, 
there is nothing that can withstand it. It is worth 
all the years of development necessary to attain it. 

Thus far we have considered the development of 
poise chiefly from the physical and mental sides, as 
matter of self-control and the economy of motion, 
but it is evident that the serene spiritual faith of the 
Friends and others whose lives reveal equanimity is 
in reality the prime cause of this priceless possession. 
The soul must have attained some measure of 
spiritual peace and trust, must have found a fairly 
satisfactory theory of the universe. The avoidance 



48 Equanimity 

of the little worriments and frictions of every-day 
life, the attainment of harmonious physical adjust- 
ment is absolutely essential ; but philosophical 
serenity naturally and necessarily leads to these. 

Probably the surest foundation for philosophical 
serenity is such a theory of the unity of life, the 
solidarity of the race, and the belief in God which 
we have described as " The New Point of View." 
It is only when man has evolved out of the old 
orthodoxy and acquired the true basis of trust, 
namely, knowledge of natural law, that he can begin 
to be serene. Light must dawn on the dark mys- 
tery of pain and evil before the mind becomes suf- 
ficiently reconciled to regard Nature's strife with 
calmness. And the inner light must be carried to 
all the world, one must be assured that every day 
has witnessed its deed of spiritual service, or faith 
and understanding will not be sufficient to maintain 
this serenity. 

The serene heart is not merely poised in the con- 
tentment of self, it is continually deepened by 
sympathy and love. Furthermore, the demand for 
success must be satisfied. Education must have 
brought those opportunities for self-expression for 
which the soul, if true to the ideal of individuality, 
so deeply longs. The severely simple life which 
many Friends lead is far from the rounded-out life 
of philosophical education. 

Equanimity does not, therefore, mean inactivity. 
It is not a mere floating down the stream of un- 
ruffled contentment. One may live an undisturbed 



Equanimity 49 

life in this way, but one cannot grow. Growth 
means continual readjustment. In many directions, 
equanimity is the reward only of weary months and 
years of persistent overcoming. 

When we become poised, we think that if we 
could only remain so all would be perfect. But it 
is the " ups and downs " of our moral and spiritual 
struggles which enable us to grow. Always to 
choose a smoothly favourable environment would 
mean that one would miss some of life's noblest 
opportunities. 

While it is undoubtedly true that some kinds of 
intellectual work can only be performed in a quiet 
study, with no thought of the demands of practical 
and social life, it is apparently wiser for the majority 
to remain in constant touch with their fellows, to be 
subject to ** annoying " interruptions and the neces- 
sity of earning their daily bread. The man whose 
work is carried on under such circumstances, who 
acquires serenity amidst them, is likely to be less 
selfish, more human, more concrete, and his doctrine 
is sure to be more practical. Art for art's sake and 
truth for truth's sake are praiseworthy ideals, but 
only those who have overcome self in large measure 
are strong enough to endure the temptations of an 
environment where all annoyances are headed off by 
kind friends, and where all the bills are paid. 

The wealthy man or woman may possibly be 
serene under chosen conditions, where the furnish- 
ings are luxurious, each article of food is cooked and 
seasoned to suit the taste, and where there are 



50 Equanimity 

multitudes of servants to anticipate every wish, but 
there is little spirituality and no democracy in this 
sort of life. It is more like absolute slavery. The 
free-.man is one who can adjust himself to any en- 
vironment, to any kind of weather, to any climate, 
any sort of bed or food. The serene man is he who 
can calmly see any possible change take place in a 
chosen environment, who meets all the accidents of 
travel with composure, and avoids the wear and tear 
of nervous friction by living above all this in a tran- 
scendental world. 

To triumph is better than to succumb or to com- 
mand a favourable environment. Any environment 
is favourable if we know how to meet it with equan- 
imity. , It is not that when we attain equanimity we 
no longer suffer and contend, but that we learn how 
to conquer without that burdensome friction which 
wears away the majority of people long before their 
earth life is complete. It is inner self-control and 
serenity which creates the very calmness, the recep- 
tivity in which we can clearly see how to act and 
how to overcome. When a man thus triumphs over 
that which at first seemed wholly unfavourable, he 
earns the right to those days and weeks of uninter- 
rupted work in which the closest thinking can alone 
be done. 

There is a difference, then, between obstacles as 
signs that one is nearing the danger line of excess, 
and obstacles which, because of the moral and 
spiritual evolution they bring, must be met and 
conquered. The difference between them is clearly 



Equanimity 51 

learned only by personal experience. For each soul 
must know for itself when to move victoriously for- 
ward and when to rest and harmonise. Each soul 
must learn how to work to the best advantage, when 
it is wiser to desist than to push forward. Then 
the fatigue limit will be approached less and less 
frequently, until finally the physical organism shall 
not only be in entire subjection, but come quickly to 
the support of the more heroic activities of the soul. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 

It is a hidden force to be dealt with and educated, for it is often 
found insubordinate and unruly. — Henry Wood. 

OUR discussion has now brought us to the point 
where we may intelHgently consider the more 
hidden activities of the human mind. We have 
considered man's relation to the cosmos of evolution, 
the intimate connection between the growth of char- 
acter and the ideals of education, and the value of 
self-control, equanimity, and poise. We have found 
that the problem of health is a part of the problem 
of education, and that the entire reform in educa- 
tional methods is dependent upon due recognition 
of the spiritual ideal applied with utmost faithful- 
ness to the lives of those who have education in 
charge. 

Already we have caught glimpses, in the preced- 
ing chapter, of that highly important law which 
regulates the deepest functioning of the mind. 
Equanimity is the power it is because of its habit- 
ual, though subconscious, influence upon the 
activities of the body. It is not what we think 

53 



The Subconscious Mind 53 

superficially and in passing that regulates our lives, 
but the habitual state of our organisms as centres 
either of nervous discord or of harmonious adjust- 
ment. It is the deep undercurrent of life which 
sways us, and this is the synthesis of all we have 
thought and done in the past; it is thought and 
character made continuously dynamic. 

It is still too early, perhaps, to formulate a wholly 
satisfactory theory of the subconscious mind. It is 
only recently that the subject has received scientific 
consideration, and the data of psychical research 
promise to be so rich that it will be long before 
there are established conclusions accepted by great 
numbers of scientific men. The literature of the 
subject is still in its formative period. There are 
many books on suggestion, hypnotism, and psy- 
chology in which subconsciousness is briefly treated, 
but no work which adequately considers the entire 
subject.^ 

Meanwhile, each observer has a wonderful labora- 
tory in his own consciousness, where the deep ac- 
tivities of the mind may easily be studied without 
reference either to spiritistic or other occult phe- 
nomena. For the subconscious mind, whatever else 
it is, is first individual : it partakes of the character- 
istics of the particular temperament. Whatever 
may affect it during sleep, mediumship, hypnosis, 

^ For a statement of the various points of view consult Janet, 
VAutomatisnie Psychologique ; Hudson, The Law of Psychic Phe- 
nomena (McClurg) ; Dr. H. T. Schofield, The Unconscious Mind 
(New York : Funk & Wagnalls) ; and the Proceedings of the Society 
for Psychical Research (3 Boylston Place, Boston). 



54 The Subconscious Mind 

or thought transference is primarily conditioned by 
the conscious life. The subconscious mind should 
therefore be studied as in every way as normal a 
function as eating or sleeping, with not the least 
suggestion of the occult or the uncanny. 

The subconscious mind, then, is not a distinct 
mind ; it is one phase of the general mental process. 
It embraces all that portion of our mental life which 
lies below the plane of conscious feeling, active 
thought, and will or volition. It is as much a part 
of one mind as the life of the plant below ground is 
a part of the same life which functions above ground, 
the difference being a difference in process. The 
above-ground life of the mind is attended by self- 
consciousness, that peculiar sentiment which differ- 
entiates every conscious mental state as belonging 
particularly to the ego or individual soul. When 
the soul is thus active, when the conscious mind 
feels, it not only feels but knows that it feels. It 
is likewise self-consciously aware of its thoughts and 
volitions. It gives conscious attention, for example, 
to an object moving before the eyes ; it thinks about 
it ; then chooses some line of conduct in relation to 
and suggested by it. While the mind is thus closely 
engaged, it cannot, of course, give an equal degree 
of attention to any other object. Our actively con- 
scious life is limited to a single object or idea. 

But this is not the whole mind. While the self- 
conscious process thus concentrates upon one object, 
it is more or less dimly aware of surrounding lights 
and shades, intrusive noises, or sensations and 



The Subconscious Mind 55 

thoughts arising from within. There is thus a 
gradual transition from the chosen object of thought 
to the dimly perceived, the indistinct, and finally to 
the subconscious, or that of which we are not at the 
time aware at all. That all these minor objects are, 
however, noted more or less vividly by the semi- 
conscious mind, is proved by the fact that when the 
mind relaxes the intensity of its concentration, it 
can, by an effort of will, recall events which hap- 
pened while the attention was absorbed in the 
chosen direction. 

Sometimes when reading aloud to a friend, one 
will suddenly discover that one has read half a page 
almost without knowing it. An attractive idea sent 
the mind off on a train of thinking of its own. This, 
for the time being, was the object of actively con- 
scious thought, and the mind forgot that it was 
reading. After a moment or two the reverie be- 
comes less pointed, and the mind has an opportunity 
to discover that the attention has wandered. But 
that a part of the mind was still absorbed in the 
reading is proved by the fact that the friend was not 
aware of the momentary shifting of conscious atten- 
tion. It is in this way that all the phenomena which 
occur below the actively conscious point are dis- 
covered. Strictly speaking, we are never aware of 
our subconscious life; we know the subconscious 
only so far as it becomes conscious ; we know it by 
inference, by retrospect, and by its effect on the 
mind and body. 

In a normal state, for example, all the functions 



56 The Subconscious Mind 

of the body are maintained involuntarily; that is, 
subconsciously. We are conscious of these func- 
tions only when discord arises. The sensation of 
pain acquaints us with the fact that we have over- 
stepped the mark, that we have lost our equanimity, 
or that something has disturbed the rhythmic action 
or equilibrium of the body. In the same way, the 
effects of mental changes upon the body are pro- 
duced subconsciously ; we are unaware of them in so 
far as they are moderate and normal. If my heart 
beats violently, or if I feel a sensation of fatigue, I 
do not consciously act upon the heart, the nerves, 
or the muscles. I become mentally calm and rest- 
ful. The body immediately begins to respond 
through the hidden activities of the subconscious 
mind. 

This apparently trivial statement is important be- 
cause it shows how a serene thought or health-bear- 
ing suggestion may be felt even to the extremities 
of the body, although there be no conscious effort 
to apply it. The subconscious mind attends to all 
this. Only give it the right turn, only impress upon 
it the kind of thought which you wish embodied, 
and you will find subconsciousness ready to carry it 
out in proportion to the confidence and emphasis 
with which the command is given. Just as the de- 
cision to awake at a given hour in the morning is 
followed by a restful night and a prompt awakening 
at the proper time, or a disturbed, wakeful night, 
according as the command is given quietly or 
anxiously, so every suggestion bestowed upon this 



The Subconscious Mind 57 

wonderfully responsive agent is accompanied by the 
kind of mental state with which the thought is sent 
out. 

It is our subconsciousness, then, which realises 
the ideals, volitions, and decisions of conscious 
thought. If a given suggestion, such as the child's 
desire to imitate its parents and learn to walk, is fol- 
lowed by repeated suggestions of a similar character, 
the ideal becomes a habit. All our habits are there- 
fore subconscious activities. If you wish to change 
your habits you must first train your subconscious 
mind. If you would know how you have thought 
yourself into servitude or disease, how you have 
built character and acquired a method of conduct, 
you must trace the natural history of your moods 
and the resultant influences upon habit and the 
physical functions or bodily activities. There are 
possibilities here of growth, of reform and education, 
so great that the mind is awed by contemplation of 
them as one realises the scope of subconscious men- 
tal action. 

Again, it is clear that the subconscious mind is at 
least as exhaustive in scope as memory. The term 
** memory " conceals many mysteries, but these are 
at any rate no greater when grouped under another 
term. Just as a continuous succession of pictures is 
impressed on the camera, which seizes all the details 
of a living scene for reproduction in that wonderful 
panorama, the biograph, so the tireless receptive 
plate of subconsciousness registers the pictures, sen- 
sations, and thoughts of the mind, storing them 



58 The Subconscious Mind 

away where they may be quickly recalled even after 
the lapse of many years. Thus the subconscious 
mind is a storehouse constantly being enlarged. Of 
course the effectiveness with which it responds to 
suggestion depends upon the type of mind. A 
stupid consciousness is supported by a dull subcon- 
sciousness. The deeper self of the educated man is 
overflowing with possibilities of subconscious action. 
The power of subconsciousness therefore depends 
on the degree and kind of education. 

Let us trace the conscious activity from its apex, 
where the attention is concentrated, down through 
what some writers have called " the pyramid of 
thought," which insensibly blends with the subcon- 
scious. Let the actively conscious thought in this 
case be the analysis of the term * * subconsciousness. ' ' 
Let the earth on which the pyramid rests represent 
the great realm of the subconscious. Below the 
apex of thought there are minor associated thoughts, 
which rise for a moment from subconsciousness, are 
looked at in relation to the point in question, then 
dismissed. Lower still, allied thoughts rise which 
are immediately dismissed because they are not ger- 
mane to the subject. 

Still lower, there is a steady play of consciousness 
arising from the objects around. For example, the 
movement of my pen on the paper, the books and 
magazines on the desk, the hard surface of the 
desk on which my body is leaning, the delicious 
sunny air of a beautiful summer morning, the sing- 
ing of the birds, etc. — all these tend to become 



The Subconscious Mind 59 

apexes of thought, but they are not permitted to 
become such, because I choose to have them serve 
now only as the mere filling of the pyramid. In 
other words, I concentrate, and the reason why my 
mind is a pyramid is just because of this rejection 
of all thoughts except so far as they reveal a relation- 
ship to the one idea under consideration, namely, 
subconsciousness. 

Every moment, as I think, there is a continual 
upflow from the great world on which the pyramid 
rests. Every experience of my life is registered 
there, every word with which I am acquainted, every 
thought that ever passed through my mind. At 
least, this is the hypothesis. That it is a true state- 
ment is clear from the fact that if I send down my 
messenger, or desire, it will bring up any memory I 
wish, although sometimes when I forget the shelf 
number the hunt is a long one, and even the libra- 
rian is occasionally puzzled. 

For example, while I write these lines my mes- 
senger is hunting for records of experiences which 
throw light on our subject. I am not conscious of 
his searchings. For my vividly conscious thought 
has all it can attend to in the study and arrangement 
of the data which steadily rise into the pyramid, and 
the act of writing requires no small amount of con- 
scious power. 

But as I approach the end of a paragraph and 
pause for a moment to take a new observation, — for 
the contents of the pyramid are like the pictures in 
a biograph, the combination changes every instant. 



6o The Subconscious Mind 

— I notice a messenger ascending with an attractive 
volume which promises to be of value. It is dusty, 
and has occupied a shelf for over eighteen years, 
with but few calls for its circulation. I open it and 
read that once when I was a telegraph operator in 
California I was called into my office at night, because 
of an accident at an adjoining station. A flood of 
memories rush into mind as I read, and it is with 
difficulty that I restrain them. Among them I 
choose first the fact that, as Jack-at-all-trades in the 
railroad station, it was my duty to listen to the 
telegraph instrument whatever else I was doing — 
selling tickets, adding figures, or conversing: this 
must always be next below the apex of thought, 
ready to become the apex if I heard the magic let- 
ters ** Po,"— my call. 

Now on this particular night I fell asleep in my 
chair, not a fatal lapse of duty, as I was not in a 
signal-tower, and as I was at my post only because 
a locomotive was side-tracked at my station until 
orders should come for its departure. But at any 
rate I fell asleep. Suddenly I awakened — the magic 
call, " Po." The instruments had been busy all 
the time, no doubt, for it was an exciting time, and 
at most stations night operators were on duty. But 
I had heard nothing. Yet something heard while I 
slept — that is, while the entire pyramid was below 
the surface. For the familiar sound brought up, by 
association, the whole pyramid. It was brought up 
because I had trained my mind to respond to that 
call under any and all circumstances. Its effect was 



The Subconscious Mind 6i 

as involuntary as the result produced on a peasant 
working in the fields in France when a company of 
soldiers passed near by and the commander shouted 
an order; the peasant, who had been a soldier, im- 
mediately stopped his work and with his hoe as- 
sumed the position commanded. 

I have no sooner returned this volume to the 
messenger, who immediately returns it to its sub- 
conscious shelf, than another is brought to me, and 
I recall that one morning, three years ago, when I 
boarded the train at Hartford, Conn., for Boston, 
there suddenly came to consciousness this thought, 
** There will be an accident, but you Avill be all 
right." Accordingly, I confidently started on my 
journey. All went well until the train reached Wel- 
lesley, fifteen miles from Boston. Suddenly the 
train stopped with sufficient force to throw some of 
the passengers from their seats. Enquiry revealed 
the fact that the engine had broken down. The 
prophecy delivered from the subconscious world was 
verified ; an accident had happened, but I was un- 
hurt. Those who discipline their subconscious 
minds will frequently have experiences of a similar 
nature. 

But the subconscious mind does not merely regis- 
ter, retain, and forewarn; it possesses an assimila- 
tive function. Listen to a lecture, or read a book, 
then turn to some other occupation or subject, 
equally absorbing, and you will find that not even 
the presence of this new interest or activity has in- 
terfered with your subconscious thought on the first 



62 The Subconscious Mind 

theme. Possibly the book or lecture has come into 
your consciousness once or twice meanwhile, and 
you have been aware of brooding over it. But you 
have been scarcely conscious of it until some day, 
weeks afterwards, some one asks a question concern- 
ing it, or you hear an opposing view. Lo and be- 
hold! the theme reappears, elaborated by all the 
corresponding harmonies which your life has known, 
and you are surprised to find how it has grown upon 
you. Evidently, the data concerning a particular 
subject gravitate by a hidden law of association to 
allied data, then assume new relations according as 
they qualify or supplement that which is already 
known. It is astonishing sometimes to learn the 
resources of one's own mind after one of these 
periods of synthetic assimilation. 

Yet even this synthetic power is surpassed in 
value and wonder by the greater receptivity of sub- 
consciousness. Probably this hidden capacity varies 
greatly in different minds. For, as we have noted, 
the subconscious mind is closely conditioned by 
temperament, and a spiritually sensitive soul stamps 
its habits upon this deeper process of the mind, 
while a more intellectual nature is characterised by 
a more strictly rational subconsciousness. 

There are plenty of instances on record of the 
solution of difficult mathematical and scientific prob- 
lems during sleep. ^ Whatever problem absorbs the 
conscious mind is likely to generate a corresponding 
activity in subconsciousness. But I refer more 

* See Carpenter's Mental Physiology, 



The Subconscious Mind 63 

especially to earnest prayers or desires for light on 
dark points where there is almost nothing to draw 
upon in the storehouse of memory. Experience 
again and again shows that these prayers sent out 
into the great universal world attract answers which 
come to consciousness later, sometimes at the close 
of a night's sleep, sometimes intruding their revela- 
tions into the busiest moods of the day. 

This sudden welling into consciousness of subcon- 
scious streams of thought is one of the surest proofs 
that a part of the mind never rests. Oftentimes 
when one is away on a vacation, or off for a day's 
rest, with the avowed intention of avoiding all philo- 
sophical thought, and again in the crowded street 
where the mind is so absorbed that there is appa- 
rently no channel left open, these subconscious de- 
liverances surprise the mind with their evidences of 
progressive thinking. Now a new idea appears 
which leads the way to a long train of valuable re- 
flection, and now a thought which is essential to an 
essay just completed and put away ** to season." 
Again, a certain sentence from the essay so persist- 
ently rises that at last one perceives that it must be 
reconstructed or omitted. Other thoughts occur to 
mind because they could find no entrance until the 
conscious mind became more quiet. 

I once tested this subconscious power of reminding 
the conscious self when there is sufficient receptiv- 
ity, by suggestively concentrating my thought upon 
a certain idea which I wanted a friend to add to the 
extempore lecture which he was delivering and to 



64 The Subconscious Mind 

which I was listening. My friend paid no heed to 
the silent suggestion until there came a pause in the 
rapid flow of his thought, and immediately he gave 
utterance to the idea which his subconsciousness 
had received ten or fifteen minutes before. 

Again, a sensitively organised speaker enters into 
subconscious affinity with his auditors, notably in a 
small and very sympathetic audience, and adapts 
his discourse to the needs of his hearers, answering 
their questions and voicing their longings so effect- 
ively as to call out the surprised comment of those 
who afterwards come forward to compare notes with 
the speaker. In fact the tendency to ** speak for 
the audience " is sometimes so strong that a speaker 
must be on his guard to keep it within bounds. In 
a highly cultivated audience this subconscious influ- 
ence is helpful, but in a mediocre gathering there is 
a tendency to lower the standard. 

Sensitive minds respond to the same subconscious 
connection with another mind when sitting down to 
write a letter to the person in question. Here, also, 
the effect is helpful or hampering according to the 
type of mind addressed. That these effects are not 
wholly due to one's own subconsciousness is proved 
by instances like the following. 

I once sat down to write to a man whom I did not 
know and whom I had never seen. To my surprise 
I found myself inclined to conceal my real thought, 
even to deceive, and the influence was so strong that 
I could hardly overcome it. Later, I learned that 
the man was one who concealed an insincere 



The Subconscious Mind 65 

disposition under a polite exterior, and I felt noth- 
ing genuine in the answer which came to my letter. 

The most important phase of subconscious recep- 
tivity is, however, that power by which we are 
spiritually guided. The reason for this greater sub- 
conscious receptivity is easily found. In the deeper 
world there is no hampering self-consciousness, no 
anxious forcing of the brain to think. The deeper 
self is evidently in immediate living contact with the 
immanent Spirit, and what it receives from that is 
limited only by the power of the desire or prayer 
which sets it into activity. The Spirit is wisdom, it 
knows what is true and what is right, and guidance 
is made known to the conscious self which far sur- 
passes in foresight the keenest intuitions of merely 
self-conscious thought. Is it not probable that 
every soul is guided in this way far more than any 
of us suspects ? 

Yet that which comes spontaneously may be con- 
sciously sought, for the subconscious mind is in all 
respects a willing servant, as readily amenable to 
prayer as to suggestion. Therefore we should trust 
it more and more, committing our problems to it, 
ever waiting in patience for its marvellous deliver- 
ances. This is another way of following the lines of 
least resistance which we have considered in the fore- 
going chapter. It is one of the greatest secrets of life 
to learn the workings of this silent partner, and so to 
adapt conscious conduct that it shall most benefi- 
cially co-operate with these deeper mental activities. 

One learns, that if philosophy, for example, is the 



66 The Subconscious Mind 

greatest interest in life, the subconscious mind is 
constantly brooding over the great problems of 
human existence. New data must continually be 
supplied, but these serve only as the merest hints 
which start long meditations, until, at a favourable 
hour, the conscious self is gladdened by results 
wholly unexpected and oftentimes very novel. 

Again and again I have tested the ability of the 
subconscious mind to solve philosophical difficulties, 
so that I am indulging in no mere hypothesis when 
I say that, the mind once trained to seek light on 
such problems, one may confidently rely on subcon- 
sciousness to solve them. The essential is patient 
trust, willingness to wait until this deeper self has 
not only looked up all the references in the library 
of memory, but has had opportunity to assimilate 
the data thus collected and intermingle with them 
the new ideas which are the natural product of this 
wonderful process of subconscious induction. If 
you send your messenger for these data before they 
have been assimilated you will find the result very 
imperfect. It is not for you to dictate. You must 
await the spontaneous rising of the completed solu- 
tion into the pyramid of thought. The subconscious 
mind knows the fitting time ; it will not bear dicta- 
tion. You must adjust yourself to its rhythm, 
otherwise you shall not know its most wonderful 
powers. When you at last acquire this adjustment, 
you will be surprised at the productiveness of your 
own mind, equally surprised at the ease with which 
your thinking is done. 



The Subconscious Mind 67 

And now another messenger from the subcon- 
scious is waiting with a book. It is entitled The 
Law of Psychic Phenomena, by Hudson. It is not 
so old as the above described volumes, and it has 
been out of the library only once or twice. With it 
come volumes which somehow have grown since I 
placed them there. About Hudson's theory there 
cluster all the arguments against it which have 
gathered since his artificial hypothesis appeared. 
Through no conscious effort of mine, the subcon- 
scious librarian has catalogued and arranged them 
all, where at the mere mention of the name, Hud- 
son, they rise en masse into the pyramid. 

In the first place, Hudson's theory that this 
deeper mind is incapable of inductive reasoning does 
not coincide with the facts, either in the case of 
those acute observers with whom I have compared 
notes or with the facts of my own consciousness 
which, as I have said, constantly reveals the induc- 
tions of subconsciousness. Let us inquire into this 
subject for a moment. 

What is induction ? Webster defines it as "reason- 
ing from a part to a whole, or from particulars to 
generals." Mill tells us that it is " inference from 
the known to the unknown." Jevons more fully 
defines it ^ as the detection of ** general laws or uni- 
formities, the relations of cause and effect." He 
believes, with most philosophers, that the greater 
part of our knowledge is thus derived. 

Now this is precisely the process of which, so far 

^ Lessons in Logic. 



68 The Subconscious Mind 

as one may judge from personal experience, the 
subconscious mind is capable. The conscious mind 
furnishes the data, the disconnected observations, 
and random thoughts. This process sometimes con- 
tinues for weeks or months, even years, before any 
result appears. Then the central principle is re- 
vealed, the general law which was all the time 
latent in these fragmentary data, the bearing of 
which the conscious mind did not detect. But 
when all the facts were supplied, when that particu- 
lar mood ended, the subconscious mind took the 
subject under advisement. The only conscious con- 
comitant observable was a sort of abstractedness, 
that feeling of mental fulness which the close 
observer of the subconscious process learns after a 
time to associate with the last stages of induction, 
the preparation to bring forth a general synthetic 
result. 

The subconscious mind evidently does not assume 
the pyramid form. It is capable of carrying on 
multiform processes at once, and a given process or 
train of connected ideas is spread out in a manner 
impossible to the conscious mind because of the 
limitations of the latter process. In this spread-out 
form in which great stretches of data are seen, as it 
were, from a mountain top, it is possible for the 
light of induction to illumine the whole vast array. 
It is this inductive illumination which forthwith 
flashes into consciousness and reveals the law exem- 
plified but unperceived in all the preceding months 
of study and meditation. 



The Subconscious Mind 69 

The subconscious mind is not, then, a separate 
mind, as Hudson contends. There is no sharp 
division between objective and subjective. Such 
divisions are always artificial, hypothetical, not 
natural. In nature, process insensibly blends with 
process, as colour blends with colour in the spec- 
trum. Thus do the planes of consciousness blend. 
Physical sensation shades into perception by a pro- 
cess so subtle that no psychological examination can 
detect the transition. Perception leads to thought, 
and thought tends to become volition. There is no 
such mental experience as mere sensation, mere in- 
tellection, or mere will. These and all other terms 
employed by psychology to describe mental states 
simply denote certain conditions in which a par- 
ticular phase of consciousness is more prominent 
than those states with which it is associated. 

In the same way our intellectual processes blend 
with our moral and spiritual consciousness. The 
fact of telepathy does not mean the presence in us 
of another mind, but only another phase of con- 
sciousness. All these phases may become subcon- 
scious. Subconsciousness is one phase only of our 
total consciousness. All phases of consciousness, 
physical, intellectual, moral, psychic, and spiritual, 
self-consciousness, the so-called superconscious, and 
the subconscious mind, belong to one soul, whose 
many-sidedness enables it to function on all these 
varying, yet interrelated and blending planes. 

Some might allege that there are two minds be- 
cause we have " two selves " in us. But the 



70 The Subconscious Mind 

contrast and struggle between lower and higher is, as 
we shall see more fully in another chapter, the 
foundation of our moral existence; this contrast is 
essential to the development of one soul, one moral 
ego. The soul flourishes amidst the interactions 
and conflicts of its own hostile moods. The co- 
presence of many moods or selves is consistent with 
the existence of one soul. Duality of mind — that 
is, duality of aspects, does not necessarily mean the 
separate existence of these aspects.^ 

All moods and selves are turned to account when 
the soul comes to judgment. The grand ideal is the 
supremacy of the soul over all these moods, the 
triumph of the Spirit over every phase of conscious- 
ness. 

The most important fact concerning the subcon- 
scious mind, therefore, is the possibility of its sub- 
serviency as an agent of the soul. The soul must 
first possess itself, the conscious mind must be 
trained, and spiritual receptivity must at least be 
an ideal, before a high degree of subconscious power 
may be acquired. But in all these attainments it is 
the subconscious mind which lays the foundations 
of its own future power. The very desire to de- 
velop subconscious power is itself a suggestion. The 
training of the deeper self goes on simultaneously 
and co-extensively with the growth of the conscious 
self. If you would reap only permanently benefi- 
cial results, you must therefore set the pace which 

^ For further arguments against the dual theory, see "Hudson's 
Duality of Mind Disproved," by T. E. Allen, the Arena, July, 1895. 



The Subconscious Mind 71 

harmonises with gradual evolution and the rhythmic 
functioning of the body. The prime essential is 
the discovery that one has a subconscious mind, or 
rather that the soul functions subconsciously, never 
wholly ceases to be active. The discovery once 
made, it rests with the observer to choose what 
types of consciousness shall be most persistently 
cultivated. 

Some occultists make it a point to recall their 
dreams from subconsciousness. Some claim that 
the soul travels during sleep. But these experi- 
ences, if possible, may be overcome by those who 
desire to become wholly normal and reposeful. In 
my own case, dreams have failed to teach me any- 
thing except in two instances, and in neither of these 
was there any evidence that the soul travelled. My 
own experience also shows that as equanimity grows, 
dreams come less and less frequently, until finally 
they cease, except in cases of extreme fatigue. 

Of sleep, F. W. H. Myers says ^ : ** I regard sleep 
as an alternating phase of our personality, distin- 
guished from the waking phase by the shutting off 
of the supraliminal [conscious] attention upon the 
profounder organic life. To sleep's concentrated 
inward attention I ascribe its unique recuperative 
power. ... In waking consciousness I am like 
the proprietor of a factory whose machinery I do 
not understand. My foreman — my subliminal * self 

* Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research^ part xxxiv., 
p. 107. 

^ Myers uses this term instead of " subconsciousness," 



72 The Subconscious Mind 

— weaves for me so many yards of broadcloth per 
diem (my ordinary vital processes). If I want any 
pattern more complex, I have to shout my orders 
in the din of the factory, where only two or three 
inferior workmen hear me, and shift their looms in 
a small and scattered way. . . . At certain in- 
tervals, indeed, the foreman stops most of the looms, 
and uses the freed power to stoke the engine and to 
oil the machinery. This, in my metaphor, is sleep. ' ' 
It is during these quiet hours of rest that the soul 
receives many of its choicest messages. Therefore 
the wise man cultivates that kind of sleep which is 
most in harmony with meditative listening. In this 
way the power of equanimity grows until, more and 
more, the subconscious life becomes part of the life 
of the Spirit. Into its precincts there come with 
growing frequency the peace, love, and guidance 
of the omnipresent Father. Thus ever more and 
more the spontaneous revelations of this most won- 
derful of all human functions become bearers of 
divine wisdom and messengers of divine power. 



CHAPTER V 

THE SPIRITUAL IDEAL IN CHILDHOOD 

Education does not commence with the alphabet : it begins with 
a mother's look, with a father's nod of approbation or sign of re- 
proof, with a sister's gentle pressure of the hand or a brother's noble 
act of forbearance. — Albert Morton. 

ONE of the most strongly marked tendencies of 
our time is the change of attitude toward the 
child. Formerly the child's sphere was decidedly 
restricted, guarded at every turn by the dogmas and 
customs of a generation whose power is now rapidly 
waning. At present the child enjoys much greater 
liberty of speech and action in the home, while in 
school and college his individuality is constantly 
gaining in recognition. Those institutions in which 
the elective system prevails are in the front rank, 
and there is a tendency in all departments of school 
and college to extend the ideals and methods of the 
new education. From the kindergarten to the high- 
grade university the ideal will soon be the free ex- 
pression of the individual soul. Opportunities of 
every sort are opening before the young mind : it is 
for the child to come to consciousness of these op- 
portunities and to select those most in keeping with 
his needs. 

73 



74 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

It is this belief that each soul is consciously, or 
subconsciously, in possession of an ideal which more 
than anything else characterises this change of atti- 
tude. Consequently, the methods employed are 
becoming idealistic. Instead of calling a child 
" naughty,** or in any way looking upon him as the 
old pessimistic theology regarded him ; instead of 
labelling a boy " thief ** by pinning a placard on his 
coat because he had taken a ruler that belonged to 
another boy (an actual occurrence in a prominent 
public school ten years ago), the child is coming to 
be regarded from the point of view of evolution ; 
and so the good, and not the bad, is named and 
encouraged. 

It may be that the reaction has gone too far in 
some instances. The child may have too much 
license in certain directions. But, at any rate, he 
is attaining his freedom, he is being treated more 
like a human being, a fresh creation demanding 
modified methods in each case ; and the foundations 
are being laid broad and deep for the nobler man of 
the future. 

In this great work of rearing the ideal man, the 
influences of the home life are paramount, and the 
utmost which the school can accomplish is to sup- 
plement them. Properly speaking, this noblest of 
all creative work begins with the grandparents. At 
the latest, it should begin in the spiritual consecra- 
tion of the father and mother long before the birth 
of their first child. 

If the marriage is the fruition of spiritual affinity, 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 75 

this dedication of the soul to the life of the Spirit 
will be a spontaneous and natural consequence. 
Yet even if the parents have not attained a high 
spiritual level, it is possible for them to transcend 
their own plane through the earnest aspiration, the 
deep sympathetic receptivity by which their souls 
are given day by day to the Highest. 

The knowledge that the soul is a centre of spirit- 
ually creative power is the first essential. Ever 
gently and persistently the soul is played upon by 
the immanent Spirit, welling up from within, seek- 
ing to attain higher and higher levels. The im- 
manent power ever seeks an outlet through us. If 
it does not find it on one plane it seeks it on another. 
That is, it may be manifested physically, intellect- 
ually, or spiritually: through quickening and tran- 
scending love. The channel it takes is, of course, 
dependent on the controlling thought, the habits 
and directions of mind. If these decisive thoughts 
are centred upon the ideal, the ascent of man, the 
life of service and the Christ, the creative power will 
seek these higher levels, drawing to it forces which 
otherwise would have run to excess or found expres- 
sion in passion or selfishness. 

Thus the dominant ideal, the conscious and sub- 
conscious attitude of the parents, is expressed in the 
life of the child. There are possibilities so high 
and probabilities so strongly to be guarded against, 
that those who recognise them will hardly deem 
anything of such great importance as the transcend- 
ence of these probable tendencies and the realisation 



76 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

of the nobler possibilities of the soul. Not merely 
through the conscious aspiration, but through the 
far greater receptivity of the subconscious mind are 
these nobler powers attracted. It is the general 
attitude, the atmosphere of the home, the kind of 
affinity, the degree of love which tells, not simply 
the beliefs; for these may be superficial or only 
passing affirmations. The dynamic centre within is 
the decisive factor, and the idealism must be made 
as far as possible a mode of life, in order for the 
spiritual to dominate the undesirable characteristics 
which may also be transmitted. 
I Yet it is well to remember with Emerson that 
If ** our easy spontaneous action is always best." For 
I what should be sacred may be made common if it 
become anxiously self-conscious. 

The wiser process is to trust the spiritual ideal to 
the subconscious mind, to send it forth as a prayer 
into the great universe, to make it part and parcel 
of the habitual thought of daily life. The Spirit 
quickens whom it will. It enters where there is 
greatest receptivity, and this is often where, owing 
to the humility of those who are chosen, there is 
the least self-consciousness. For self-consciousness 
merely prepares the way; it is the Spirit which 
accomplishes. 

Is it not probable that this subconscious spiritual- 
ity of the parents is in many cases the cause of the 
more spiritual character of the offspring, wrongly 
attributed by Theosophists to reincarnation ? If 
the parents are on the ascending scale, so to speak, 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood li 

may they not thus mount far beyond their present 
attainments, bequeathing a more advanced disposi- 
tion to their children ? 

To the question, When does the human soul 
begin ? I do not venture an answer. That seems to 
be a part of the enigma which makes all ultimate 
origins a mystery. I take it simply as a fact that a 
divine individuation comes out of the unknown into 
the known, and that the type of soul attracted to 
the parents depends largely upon the plane of life 
attained, and upon the degree of subconscious re- 
ceptivity, particularly on the part of the mother. 
Whatever the soul may be as an original individua- 
tion of the creative Spirit, there is abundant evidence 
that the external characteristics are inherited from 
the parents and grandparents. Consequently, it is 
of utmost consequence that the parents attain not 
only soundness of body but equanimity, self-control ; 
that they learn to draw upon the omnipresent crea- 
tive resources of the Spirit. 

The world has heard chiefly about unfortunate 
prenatal influences ; it is now time to hear about the 
fortunate; better still, it is time to realise them. 
There is no question about the influence; it is only 
matter of choice. A marvellous power for good, 
for beauty, health, and love resides in the mental 
atmosphere which, figuratively speaking, surrounds 
the consecrated soul. All the forces of practical 
idealism, all the helpful mental pictures which the 
soul can command should be brought to bear for 
the maintenance of this atmosphere. It should be 



jS The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

inspired by hope, health, every day and every 
hour. It should be the culmination of the mind's 
profoundest researches into the wonders and laws 
of evolution. In fact, evolution itself proceeds most 
successfully in this its most sacred environment, the 
aspiration of the mother heart. ^ 

In the earliest years of the child's life, it is also 
the mental atmosphere, the spiritual presence, the 
father-mother life, which is most influential. Few 
parents realise how long their children are literally 
a part of them, how like a sensitive plant the little 
responsive agent vibrates with the inner attitude. 
If they realised the deeply sacred character of 
parenthood, what a reformation there would be in 
the lives of those who are now lacking in poise, 
deficient in even the rudiments of self-knowledge 
and self-control ! 

The merest observation shows to how slight a de- 
gree the little child is responsible for its character 
and deeds, how fully its life is dependent on the 
thoughts and acts of those with whom it is brought 
in constant relation. If a child is approached with 
force, impatiently, or in a condemnatory spirit, it 
quickly responds in a similar manner. On the con- 
trary, if it be met with love, no being in the world 
is more pliable. There are boundless possibilities 
here, and it is well seriously to consider them. The 

^ The reader will find many very helpful thoughts, beautifully and 
forcibly stated, in Ideal Motherhood, by Minnie S. Davis (T. Y. 
Crowell & Co., 1898) ; and in A Mother's Ideals, published by the 
author, Andrea Hofer Proudfoot, 1400 Auditorium, Chicago, 1897. 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 79 

child is very seldom to blame; it is the attitude and 
activity of the approach that count. 

When we are perfectly honest with ourselves, we 
confess that in nearly every case where we resorted 
to force with the little ones, it was because of our 
own lack of self-control, our impatience. Coercive 
measures are temporary and degrading substitutes 
employed while we are on the road to the manifest- 
ation and guidance of all things through the silent, 
gentle power of love and the Spirit. Punishment 
is self-bringing and, generally speaking, need not be 
administered by man, if the universe be permitted 
to teach it through the law of action and reaction. 
Man's part is to dwell, not on the negative condi- 
tions, but upon the ideal which is being achieved 
through them. 

In many other ways, the mental attitude of the 
parents is the prime factor in the home. In illness 
as in health it is the father and mother, especially 
the mother and those who have the care of the 
child, who give the child's conditions the wrong or 
right turn. And it is of slight avail to doctor the 
child if it is cared for by those who are high-strung, 
nervous, full of fear, or ready to bestow upon the 
slightest ailment the name of some dreaded disease. 

Parents possessed of common sense will keep their 
children close to nature, regarding the little aches 
and pains as mere frictions of growth to be over- 
come, not through the use of drugs, but by keeping 
in harmony with nature. It is a distressing but an 
actual fact that a healthy child may be made a 



8o The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

weakling, and taught to suffer the entire round of 
(unnecessary) children's diseases, by watching every 
breath it draws, fearful lest a bit of Nature's pure 
and healthy air come nigh. Happily, these absurd 
ideas are passing, and there are many mothers now- 
adays who permit their children to grow as Nature 
guides. But there is still great need of reform, that 
the entire thought for the child may be dedicated 
to health and not to disease. The mother's love is 
of itself sufficient to cure the child of most of its 
ills, if all her thinking is toward the perfect, in trust- 
ful co-operation with the Spirit, if she herself is 
poised and strong. 

Again, in the later years, it is important to re- 
member that there are certain evolutionary stages 
through which the child passes which are best dealt 
with by dwelling on the positive side. Every one 
of these disagreeable features may be loved into 
traits of beauty through fidelity to the ideal, in con- 
formity with the laws of evolution. 

Give the child the earliest possible opportunity to 
learn the law of cause and effect. Let it discover 
that as fire always burns, so you are always to be de- 
pended on if approached in a certain mood. Do 
not threaten beyond what you have the heart to 
carry out. Be consistent and orderly. 

A little later, point out that the same law applies 
to our thoughts as well, and so teach the child to 
build ideals, that it may as soon as possible lay the 
foundations of self-help. 

When the child evinces some knowledge of this 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 8i 

fundamental law of cause and effect, or action and 
reaction, the time has arrived for the first explana- 
tions concerning human existence. A beginning is 
best made by pointing out the law of growth as exhi- 
bited in plant life. Explain that as all plants spring 
from the seed which the child has put into its warm 
nest in the soil, so all animals have grown from a sin- 
gle cell, so all nature has evolved from small to great. 

From step to step one may lead on, by the use of 
nature studies,^ illustrations drawn from the child's 
life, by the aid of natural history books, until the 
time comes to explain that the human organism 
develops in the same way. If this explanation is 
rightly given it will be a memorable experience in 
the child's life. 

In regard to the age at which this explanation 
should be made, it is difficult to state a rule because 
some children mature so much younger than others. 
Generally speaking, it is postponed far too long. 
Begin very early, long before the child can hear 
anything about its sex nature from any one but its 
mother. The beginning, of course, is in the right 
attitude on the part of the mother. If her attitude 
calls out and cherishes the child's confidence, it will 
become a mighty power such that no outside influ- 
ence can ever master it. Under these conditions 
the first thought of the boy or girl will always be. 

What would mother say ? " It is impossible to 
overestimate the power of this maternal influence 

^ For example, Among the Forest People and Among the Meadow 

People, by F. C. Gordon, New York : E. P. Button & Co. 
6 



82 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

and devotion. It is the making of many men and 
women ; for no school or college pretends to make 
a boy or girl " good." 

All explanations concerning the creative life 
should be made with that dedication of soul, that 
spirit of sacredness which lifts the whole subject to 
the spiritual plane, and creates an atmosphere, a 
quality of thought, always associated with the sub- 
ject by the child. The foundations of spiritual 
marriage are laid when this touch of sacredness is 
imparted. It is a divine moment in the life of man. 

The explanation should, of course, be made in 
parts at different times, notably at about seven or 
eight and eleven or twelve, at which time the in- 
struction should be complete and searching. But 
the essential thought should be implanted far earlier 
than this, when the child asks the first questions 
about its organism. 

Do not be afraid to talk '* over the head" of 
your little auditor. The child apprehends in its own 
way, and remembers even what it fails to under- 
stand. It is a very common mistake nowadays to 
simplify everything for children, to give them only 
infantile books. But our forefathers in the literary 
world had no such books. Consequently, they read 
the standard authors and poets even when they were 
mere boys. Thus they began very early to educate 
themselves, and to cultivate that fine literary sense 
which eventually became so strong that they never 
could have been induced to read the second-rate 
literature so widely circulated nowadays. 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood S^ 

A kindergarten teacher recently related the fol- 
lowing effective incident. The children had been 
watching the growth of bulbs in the school, and 
when, a short time after, one of the little ones 
passed into the spiritual world, the teacher turned 
the entire thought away from death by teaching 
them to say in concert ** Life goes on forever." 
When, a few days later, a little boy spoke of their 
companion as " dead," a little girl immediately cor- 
rected him by saying, ** Oh, no; life goes on for 
ever.'* The teacher expressed the belief that the 
ideal was so firmly implanted by this incident that 
it would never be forgotten. 

The explanation of the law of growth is naturally 
supplemented by the great thought that behind all 
there is one Life, which awakens the world of vege- 
tation in the spring, quickens the animal world, and 
brings us all into physical being. Thus the child 
may be given his first idea of the Father, as the 
logical outcome of the foregoing explanations. In 
this way the thought of the divine becomes a natural 
evolution, and the parents need have no fear that 
the young mind will later be won over by the entice- 
ments of the old theology. Years of unlearning, of 
ridding the mind of** lumber," as one victim ex- 
pressed it, may thus be avoided. 

In order to answer all the questions a child may 
ask when these great thoughts are imparted — and 
this is very essential — it is best to prepare one's self 
in advance. 

** Do you happen to know how God came to be 



84 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

here ?'* a little boy recently asked his mother in 
despair, after having propounded the question in 
vain to several of his elders. The origin of God is 
sure to be one of the problems raised. To meet it, 
one should be prepared to show that a Power or 
Life must always have existed, that there always 
was a world, some world, else the trees and animals, 
and boys and girls, could not exist to-day. The 
entire explanation concerning natural law has pre- 
pared the way for this climax. It should be based 
entirely upon the law of cause and effect. 

Be especially explicit in speaking of the soul as an 
immortal, continuously living being, superior to 
death. Call attention again and again to life, life, 
the invisible essence behind and within all that fades 
and perishes. Explain that the soul abides with 
and is in direct touch with the Father, from whom 
all our noblest aspirations come. Make the whole 
conception living, human, simple, close, and tender. 
Show that all this is true in the living now. Show 
how the Father speaks to the soul as conscience, as 
peace, as love, even as a human friend. 

Nothing is more important than to make clear this 
great fact that the child is a soul, not a physical 
being. If this is clearly understood, all else will be 
clear. The thought may be made tangible by 
explaining that the soul is that in us which feels, 
thinks, chooses, and acts ; that it is the part of us 
which feels and knows God, which loves, which we 
love, which owns and uses the body as an instru- 
ment. 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 85 

Thus the child may very early grasp the thought 
that there is a power in us which is superior to, and 
can not only control but transmute the little animal 
impulses. Many times this great principle may be 
enforced by meeting the child in unusual gentleness 
and love, if it chances to rush into the house in the 
opposite mood. The power of example, thus en- 
forced, will in due time become first the ideal, then 
the habit, of the child.' 

In this way, preparation may be made years be- 
fore for the more strenuous years from twelve or 
thirteen to seventeen. The young mind will have 
acquired as a habit the power of turning its atten- 
tion in a higher creative direction. It will know 
that ideas and ideals have life and grow like seeds 
in the subconscious mind, that if the thought is 
pure and the ideals high, the mind is fortified against 
the severest temptations and influences. 

With this creative work in view, it is wise to en- 
courage the experimental spirit as early as possible. 
Study the child's tastes and tendencies and give it 
tools and materials wherewith to express its original 
ideas. Thus the child will early discover the re- 
sources of the inner world and learn to draw upon 
them more and more. 

If the start is right, if the home ideals are high, 
the outcome is assured. The higher may be severely 

^ In a recent discourse in Boston, Mozoomdar, the great Hindu 
religious teacher, summed up the whole of morality in childhood by- 
saying, "Teach children first self-control; teach them, secondly, 
the doing of good deeds to others." 



86 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

buffeted at times, but it will always conquer. The 
essential is to believe in the soul, to call out the 
soul, to hold to the ideal, then to supply the neces- 
sary implements, the right environment, and give 
proper encouragement at those plastic times when 
the young life is most receptive and apt. 

There is a happy medium between believing your 
child a genius and pushing it aside to depend on its 
own resources. First of all, believe in your child, 
judiciously encourage and sympathise with it, but 
do not forget that training of some sort is equally 
essential. Give it enough difificulties to encounter 
so that it may learn all the lessons of individual ex- 
periment, and acquire all the strength and skill of 
personal mastery. If you listen to your boy or girl 
as to a prophet, you will surely defeat all the pur- 
poses of the spiritual ideal. The wiser way is to 
hold that confidence which is ever an encourage- 
ment, without any of that worship which is a source 
of unproductive precociousness and self-conceit. 
Whether you are a parent or a teacher, regard the 
child as a human being, a new individual, a soul- 
equal, and your companionship is sure to be mutually 
helpful. 

There is also a mean between the two extremes 
of over-training and the neglect of which many 
modern parents are guilty who have reacted too far 
from all educational methods. A boy is not an 
animal, nor is he a picture to be painted. If the 
little ones become the masters, the household loses 
its equilibrium. On the contrary, if the elders 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 87 

assume ownership, they forfeit the right to be 
guides and friends. 

One cause of the modern disregard of the stand- 
ards of obedience, and the growing irreverence for 
parents, is the absurd idea that we have ** chosen 
our parents," and they are only secondary after all. 
It seems strange that one must remind Theosophists 
that every child who receives even the average 
amount of care, owes a debt to its mother and father 
which the noblest work of service to humanity will 
hardly repay. The fact that a child possesses quali- 
ties which differentiate it from its parents, does not 
necessarily prove that it is an ** old soul." The 
mysteries of prenatal influence have not yet been 
solved. 

The true basis of reverence is love. Where love 
reigns, there will be no probability that the ideals 
of parenthood and sonship will be neglected. This 
answers the vexed question concerning prayer. 
Some have feared that if a child is not taught to 
repeat a prayer, and later the " Lord's Prayer," it 
may develop an irreverent spirit. But if a child is 
taught to love the immanent, omnipresent Father, 
if the mother talks with the child as she should, all 
these contingencies will be avoided. Admirable 
substitutes for conventional prayers may be found 
in the excellent compilation by Whittier, Child 
Life^^ and in verses like the familiar 

" Every day is a fresh beginning, 
Every morn is a world made new," etc. 

1 Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 



88 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

By teaching these and other idealistic verses, the 
compHcations of an outgrown theology ^ may be 
avoided. 

Soon we must have Sunday-schools in keeping 
with these higher ideals, schools to which modern 
mothers may send their children without the con- 
sciousness that half the knowledge thus gained must 
be ** unlearned " at home. Such schools will be 
based on nature studies, practical idealism, and a 
spiritual philosophy of life. They will supplement 
and be in harmony with the home teaching, and 
thus admirably carry forward the general work of 
spiritual education. 

Under any conditions, the foundations of Sunday- 
school instruction should be laid at home, and when 
the higher'* Sunday-schools are founded they should 
be conducted in the father and mother spirit. Thus 
the home is the beginning of all branches of educa- 
tion, and the foregoing ideals, although applicable 
in a measure to the schools, are of primary value 
when made vital factors in the thought of the 
parents. I have considered these ideals in a brief, 
suggestive, and fragmentary way because they 
become thus vitally instrumental only when the 
parents work out the principles for themselves. 

* Do not, for example, use the terminology associated with the 
word " sin," but teach the child that its lower or animal nature is in 
process of growth. Let all instruction be idealistic. Let it all 
point forward. 

^ " Higher" because founded on the fact of the immanent Spirit, 
to which each soul may have immediate access, without the media 
of creeds, forms, and dogmas. 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 89 

There are few books which are of real value. The 
majority are like treatises on pedagogy — cut up, 
subdivided, and abounding in italicised definitions 
without number, but lacking that living touch which 
makes them truly human. The great resource is to 
start with natural law as a basis and develop your 
entire system from that. And the two great secrets 
of success in the application of natural principles 
are, first, to control yourself; and, second, to guide 
the child by continually interesting its attention ; 
for attention is the very life of concentration and 
will: ** breaking the child's will is a cruel blunder.'' 
Teachers usually complain that they have no time 
to apply these higher ideals, since they are at the 
mercy of the pressure system. But the teacher may 
at least adopt the evolutionary point of view in re- 
gard to the disagreeable stages of childhood, and 
approach the pupils in a spirit of optimism. Even 
if every minute be in subjection to the pressure 
system, the teacher may call the subconscious mind 
into play by impressing high ideals upon it a mo- 
ment or two before losing consciousness in sleep. 
It is economy to do this. The subconscious mind 
will in due time afTect daily conduct, and surely no 
teacher is so busy that a moment may not be taken 
to lower the voice, to speak more gently, and become 
more moderate. Then, to her surprise, the teacher 
will find that she does not ** get so tired," that she 
has more time. Thus equanimity will accomplish 
what school reform cannot. Our nervous, hurrying 
life is the real cause of the pressure system. When 



90 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

we change our mode of life, a modified curriculum 
will be a natural and inevitable result. 

With a reform in our thought and life, a reform 
in kindergarten methods will also follow/ Froebel 
was inspired by a grand ideal of spiritual education, 
but many of his exponents are unequal as yet to the 
task of interpreting him. An entire philosophical 
system is involved in his doctrine, and one must live 
and think deeply to understand it. 

The chief defects of current kindergarten methods 
are not, however, philosophical but practical. As 
at present carried out, Froebel's ideas undoubtedly 
lead to many vague fancies which must some time 
give place to sound scientific knowledge. The dif- 
fusion of force exemplified in some kindergartens 
must also be remedied. If all instruction could be 
in harmony with natural law, there would be little 
need of many of the methods now employed. 

Nature teaches concentration, system. The child 
whose training is grounded in natural law may be 
educated by a higher method than either the old or- 
thodox system with its enforced silence and irksome 
reverence, or the new method, or lack of method, 
with its extreme regard for passing whims and fan- 
cies. Just as extreme restriction at home breeds de- 
ceit among the children and is harmful to the parents 
who uphold the rules, so the neglect of that training 
which gives concentration is followed by unfortunate 
results in the later years of mental unfolding. 

^ See an able critique by President Stanley Hall in the Forum, 
January, 1900. 



The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 91 

Yet there are times when the child's native in- 
stincts are to be consulted in preference to an ac- 
cepted theory of education, as the following instance 
shows. The editor of a kindergarten magazine 
advised her readers to have the little children press 
and mount flowers. Accordingly, a certain kinder- 
gartner, much against her will, but accepting the 
authority of her chief as final, proposed an excur- 
sion to the fields for the purpose of pressing flowers. 
Her pupils declared their lack of interest, but the 
teacher still persisted, although the little ones man- 
ifested no pleasure when a book was produced and 
the dainty flowers were plucked from their waving 
stems to be imprisoned within its leaves. When 
the time came, a few days later, to open the book 
and mount the flowers, one little fellow piped up 
and exclaimed, " Well, we 've killed them this time." 
The teacher persisted, however, and showed the 
children how to mount the flowers. But one could 
have heard a pin drop during the operation, she 
said. And then and there the teacher decided to 
obey the promptings of Nature rather than the 
dictates of authority. 

Froebel assures us ^ that " education in instruction 
and training, originally and in its first principles, 
should necessarily be passive, following (only guard- 
ing and protecting), not prescriptive, categorical, 
interfering." Everything depends upon how deeply 
we understand the child, and the natural law where- 
by the soul is to be led forth into expression. When 

^ Education of Man ^ P- 7. 



92 The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood 

we begin truly to understand this leading, as Froebel 
perceived it, we may find that a large part of our 
educational system is at fault. And so our final 
word in regard to the whole system, from the kind- 
ergarten to the university, is that it is experiment- 
al; it advances only as the experiment called life 
advances, and possibly we have progressed only a 
little way in the multiform solution essential to a 
satisfactory theory of education. 



CHAPTER VI 

AN EXPERIMENT IN EDUCATION 

Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and 
silent propaganda. As far as lies in its power, it tends to transform 
the universe and humanity into its own image. — Amiel's Journal. 

THE inner life of man is a progressive awakening 
to the laws and opportunities of the soul as a 
creative agent in the great world of nature and so- 
ciety. It begins with the first dim intimations of 
self-consciousness as contrasted with its environ- 
ment, and proceeds stage by stage until the soul at 
last becomes conscious of the grand possibilities of 
evolutionary education. The soul then for the first 
time learns its sacred significance as an organic 
factor in the wonderfully varied system of divine 
self-manifestation. A new sense of responsibility is 
quickened, a new impetus is imparted to daily life, 
and existence is held to be worth living in a sense 
never dreamed of before. For with this deep quick- 
ening of the ethical and spiritual incentives, there 
dawns a consciousness of the close relationship of all 
human beings as sharers and helpers in the same 
great evolutionary process. 

This organic fellowship of all human souls we 

93 



94 An Experiment in Education 

shall consider more at length in a later chapter. But, 
accepting it as the most important phase of the dis- 
covery that man is a creative agent, it is evident that 
each man's educational experiment should as early 
as possible be adapted with this social ideal in view. 
Individuality is no doubt an end in itself, yet it 
becomes truly itself only as it is contributory, and 
we must keep the social ideal in sight in order to 
lift education to the spiritual plane. In this way 
we shall avoid the eccentricities which so often 
characterise a merely individualistic experiment in 
education. 

Frankly accepting life as an experiment, with the 
knowledge that each soul is essentially unlike all 
other souls, yet designedly so, that it may creat- 
ively add to life's social evolution, it is clear that 
we must adapt all educational methods to this in- 
finite variety, and depart as far as possible from all 
mechanical standards. Since education at best is 
only the means, while the soul is the end, education 
should be inspired by knowledge of its sacred func- 
tion : a calling out to the full of the individual 
creative power of each soul recognised as of special 
worth in itself. 

It is clear, however, that educators may err in 
their zealous emphasis of the individualistic side.. 
While each soul needs specific attention and an in- 
dividually favourable environment, there are many 
ideals which may be realised in common, there is 
culture which everybody needs. For example, 
everyone must learn self-control, everyone must 



An Experiment in Education 95 

acquire concentration, must learn to think, become 
quickened to the love of truth for its own sake, 
beauty for art's sake, and utility as a prime essential 
in all training. Every person needs the discipline 
of a thorough system, and there is a strong argu- 
ment for postponing the experimental years until 
** the age of reason." 

Because of the value of school and college training 
as contrasted with personal experiment, the educa- 
tional world is likely to be divided for many gen- 
erations to come between two sharply contrasted 
methods of culture : teaching by authority, gradu- 
ated system, precise and thorough as that of Ger- 
many; and teaching by the elective plan, by 
self-development and experiment. A philosopher 
would probably say that the wisest method is a 
synthesis of these extremes. But adjustment be- 
tween extremes is precisely the problem which the 
practical worker finds most difificult. As long as 
authorities differ, the controversy concerning this 
adjustment is sure to present ever fresh problems, 
and both extremes are likely to become more ex- 
treme before a satisfactory solution is reached. 

Meanwhile the decision in a particular case is 
likely to depend chiefly upon inheritance, environ- 
ment, and the accidents of fortune. Yet as every 
life is a fresh experiment, seemingly accidental in- 
stances may throw great light on the total problem. 
My own education has been almost wholly of an 
unconventional sort, and the doctrine of this book 
is necessarily, perhaps helpfully, coloured by it. I 



96 An Experiment in Education 

attended school but four years, I did not spend a 
day in a high or preparatory school, and five years 
of business experience came before I entered college 
at twenty-four. And so, having wholly avoided the 
pressure system, my experiment may serve either to 
point out the way in which danger lies, or be an 
illumination to those similarly placed, as the in- 
dividual may decide. 

For those who can bear it, there may be nothing 
better than the strenuously thorough training of the 
German gymnasium^ and in the case of Professor 
Miinsterberg, its latest and ablest champion,^ this 
system seems to have presented no obstacles. But 
the crucial question is. Do we wish to evolve only 
German scientists ? Is a man likely to become 
original, spiritual, creative, under this process ? If 
not, we must have a wholly different environment 
to meet a totally different demand. 

Moreover, the number of ** misfits " is increasing, 
those who, sensitively organised, extremely nervous 
or introspective, do not thrive in any school. There 
are many whose health will not permit such strenu- 
ous work ; this is especially the case with tall boys 
who grow very rapidly between the ages of fourteen 
and sixteen. In these cases, the only alternative, 
of course, is to instruct the children at home for a 
time, then give them such schooling at intervals as 
can be borne without detriment, supplemented by 
physical culture, manual training, or the learning of 

^ See the Atlantic Monthly, May, 1900. Professor Munsterberg's 
strongest point is his plea for better-trained teachers. 



An Experiment in Education 97 

a trade. Among the boys of this type whom I have 
had opportunity to observe, those have thrived best 
who, never permitted to be idle while unable to 
attend school, have been taught a trade. 

Every thoughtful person knows that to learn one 
thing well is more profitable than to acquire a smat- 
tering of many arts and sciences. Everywhere the 
individual leads to the universal, and when a man 
has mastered an art or science, he is prepared to 
begin in earnest to realise the scientific man's ad- 
vice: ** Know everything about something; know 
something about everything." The chief fault of 
conventional education is that it teaches so many 
subjects in so short a time. But just that attain- 
ment which high and preparatory schools usually do 
not give, namely, concentration, the power of indi- 
vidual thought, is the freest gift to all who learn a 
trade or some practical occupation which they 
enjoy. 

In the first place, the mastering of a trade which 
must become remunerative as soon as possible, com- 
pels one to be practical. In the case of an intro- 
spective, idealistic, or speculative temperament, 
this is of great moment ; it lays the foundation for 
the whole of life of that balancing tendency which 
keeps the mind from flying aloft to visionary heights. 
This gift from practical life is worth more to a mind 
of the above-mentioned type than all the classic in- 
struction in the world. A mind of this type is apt 
to take itself too seriously, to overestimate the value 
of its own opinions, if it be not thus early brought 



gS An Experiment in Education 

in close contact with the demands of practical exist- 
ence. 

Again, the technical knowledge thus gained is 
sure to be of value. If a boy is placed where he 
must keep accounts for a time, he learns arithmetic 
by using it, whereas he may have been mathemati- 
cally dull in school. Type-setting is excellent train- 
ing, of great value in many occupations in after life ; 
of value, too, in the use of English. Proof-reading 
is better yet, since it is splendid training for the 
powers of observation; there is some opportunity 
for the exercise of literary taste ; it teaches the art 
of punctuation, and is helpful in the choice and use 
of words. All branches of newspaper work are of 
great educational value. The mastery of steno- 
graphy not only trains and perfects the memory, but 
makes one a good listener, and is an unsurpassed 
method for the training of the attention. Tele- 
graphy is valuable, but is not equal in scope to 
stenography. One whose training has been almost 
wholly of the practical kind says that he gained 
more genuine mental discipline through the mastery 
of telegraphy and stenography than through all his 
years of schooling. 

Professor Miinsterberg argues against letting a 
boy do what he chooses. In practical life there are 
sure to be contingencies which counteract the elect- 
ive system in a far better way than by any method 
of human devising. The compulsory breaking away 
from a favourite environment, because a boy's 
parents decide to move to another State, is an 



An Experiment in Education 99 

illustration. The death of the father, which com- 
pels a boy or girl to leave an ideal situation for one 
that is more remunerative is, as everybody knows, 
oftentimes the making of a man or woman. 

Again, there are situations like this. A young 
man enters the newspaper business and gradually 
rises to the position of business manager. The sub- 
scription list is placed in his care. He counts the 
names and also learns the actual number of papers 
printed per week — less than one half the boasted 
circulation! He complains to the proprietor, and 
is told that a paper which does not keep up with 
the deceits of its contemporaries will be left behind 
in the race. The young man finds it easier and 
easier to deceive until he reaches a point where he 
knows that he will soon deceive unconsciously. 
What shall he do — permit prevarication and com- 
mercialism to become second nature, or resign, fore- 
going a large salary ? The decision comes quickly 
if he thinks, unless — terrible thought! — it means 
starvation for wife or mother. 

Thus practical life may be trusted to provide 
man-making opportunities. In school or out, no 
one can escape these. As one looks back upon 
deprivations which seemed hard at the time, and 
upon disappointments which were almost unbear- 
able, one sees that a Wisdom has presided over 
events in a marvellous way. 

It may seem a long break from systematic study 
to omit the high school, and many will question 
whether the taste for learning will ever be quickened. 

UoTU 



loo An Experiment in Education 

But if there be somewhat which demands expression, 
it will be aroused. And when the awakening comes, 
the years of practical experience which brought one 
in close contact with real life, with the wage-earning 
class and with the struggle for existence, will be of 
incalculable value. No experience is profitless when 
the soul comes to consciousness. 

Yet I would emphasise the need of placing before 
every boy and girl those opportunities and books 
which are likely to call out the soul during those 
crucial years variously called ** the age of conceit,** 
*' the age of reason," and ** the soul's awakening." 
If the awakening soul is surrounded by idealising 
influences and given the right books, years of diffus- 
ion of force may be avoided. For if the taste for 
better things is then quickened, the mind is not 
likely to turn aside into morbid channels or the 
wiles and subtleties of baneful literature. 

It may interest the reader to know what books 
brought the awakening in a given case. The in- 
stance is that of a young man who for years had no 
ambition beyond the business in which he was em- 
ployed, where he hoped to attain the highest level, 
— an occupation totally at variance with all heredit- 
ary tendencies, — but who matured late and ap- 
parently suffered no serious loss. I will let him tell 
the story in his own words, as nearly as I can recol- 
lect them. 

" I am amazed," said my friend, '* when I re- 
collect how ignorant I was during those business 
years of that which, according to Macaulay, * every 



An Experiment in Education loi 

schoolboy knows.' Macaulay's schoolboy was a 
prodigy, to be sure, but I did not possess a third of 
such a boy's knowledge. In school I had stood at the 
head of my class in spelling and geography, but at 
the foot in arithmetic, and history I had not studied 
at all. I had read almost nothing outside of school. 
I was ignorant even of the names of the standard 
authors. My work was closely confining, I had no 
society, and when, owing to the plans of my parents, 
I was forced to leave the little town where I worked, 
it was many months before I became reconciled to 
my new social situation. But when I discovered 
the world of literature, how sudden and complete 
the change ! 

" It all began with Shakespeare's Hamlet, which 
I studied in an elocution class, and with Lowell's 
Among m,y Books and My Study Wmdows, which I 
read simply because I had seen the titles in a game 
of authors. Once started, I did not stop. I read 
every word that Shakespeare wrote, and many of 
the commentaries on his plays. Lowell's essays 
quickened interest in other poets, and I read through 
nearly all the great poets, and read their biograph- 
ies. Thus one book led to another by a process of 
natural suggestion. 

** Then, in a fortunate hour, a friend gave me two 
volumes of Emerson's Essays, and shortly afterwards 
my doom was sealed. I read every word of Emer- 
son, and every book about him. I read Emerson's 
favourite authors, and these sent me to more. This 
reading also raised for me the great problems of 



I02 An Experiment in Education 

philosophy, religion, and science, and I read such 
works as Lewes' s Biographical History of Philosophy j 
and James Freeman Clarke's Ten Great Religions ; 
later, Berkeley, Martineau, Darwin, Huxley, Wal- 
lace, Le Conte, John Fiske, and the works of many 
other scientific and philosophical writers. I be- 
came, in fact, a very general reader, laying the 
foundations, unwittingly, of a general education." 

This opportunity for general reading is one of the 
best in a free educational experiment. If one is 
free to read what the higher self dictates, the books 
thus chosen are sure to be remembered ; they are 
read as literature, not as text-books for examination 
purposes, and in later years, when one must be a 
specialist, the knowledge thus gained will be turned 
to account in unsuspected ways. I have proved 
this from personal experience, and next to the in- 
fluences of home life and the practical training in the 
business world, I would place the years of unhamp- 
ered reading of great authors, an experience which, 
in my own case, was largely quickened by Emerson. 

Best of all, in these formative years when one 
wanders at will through the treasure-house of books, 
if one begins to express the soul in some way, by 
keeping a journal, writing verse, sketching, com- 
posing, anything which gives play to the creative 
faculty, these years of wandering will assume speci- 
fic shape and prepare the way for public service. 

It is also essential that the religious nature be 
kept free from hampering influences. See to it that 
your son and daughter are not drawn into the church 



An Experiment in Education 103 

through a merely emotional experience. It were 
better that they should not attend church for a time 
than that they should sacrifice freedom of thought. 
When the soul's awakening comes, advise them to 
attend the services of every kind of church, and 
think for themselves. Place books where they are 
sure to find them which, like Lydia Maria Child's 
Aspirations of the World, or Clarke's Ten Great 
Religions, acquaint them with the fact that there are 
many religions besides Christianity. Your children 
may miss the advantages of membership in one 
church, but they will gain the inestimable advantage 
of membership in the church universal. 

Again, travel, and especially foreign travel, ac- 
quaints one with self, shows what one knows and 
does not know, and quickens a deep desire for 
knowledge. In many an instance it has been the 
basis of what is known as the higher education. In 
my experiment it was foreign travel, combined with 
the years of general reading, which at twenty-two 
prompted the first desire for college training. 
Under such circumstances the college years are sure 
to be greatly beneficial. For the student is old 
enough to know his needs ; he knows what he wants 
to study, he has seen something of life ; and in a 
college like Harvard he can from the first elect those 
courses which his now rapidly developing individual- 
ity most keenly craves. 

The business man will argue that it is absurd to 
let a boy wait until he is twenty-two before he even 
begins to prepare for college, and it may be absurd 



I04 An Experiment in Education 

if a man is to be a mere money-maker. But if he is 
to be true to the spiritual ideal, is it not highly- 
practical to wait until everything shall be turned to 
creative account ? 

There are decided disadvantages in the postpone- 
ment of the study of Greek and Latin until the age 
of twenty-two, but there are rich compensations. 
Xenophon, Caesar, and Homer are studied as Lowell 
would have them read, namely, as literature. His- 
tory is read as a part of human life, and science is 
turned to instant account as furnishing the most 
modern point of view. 

To be sure, one may miss many of the pleasures 
of college sports and social life by entering college as 
late as twenty-four. On the other hand, there are 
few distractions, and one may give the mind more 
fully to the great ideals of intellect and Spirit. 

There is perhaps nothing more important in edu- 
cational work than learning to think. The habit 
once acquired, if one has been free from religious 
and other coercion, the tendency is not likely to 
stop short of entire intellectual and spiritual liberty. 
To the maturer student, college life comes as the 
natural complement of the previous years of free 
experiment and general reading. For under the 
Harvard elective system one may confine one's self 
to two or three subjects, even to one subject per 
year, and thus have time to do thorough, thought- 
ful work. 

Ideally speaking, one should have far more special 
preparation for college than can be gained in the two 



An Experiment in Education 105 

or three years to which one is Ukely to be limited 
after the age of twenty. But there are all the ad- 
vantages on the other side which we have considered 
in this chapter, and the majority of minds acquire 
the requisite knowledge very rapidly at this maturer 
period : they have learned how to work ; they know 
what freedom from pressure is, and will not permit 
their energies to run to excess. Another advantage 
is found in the fact that if a favourite author, like 
Emerson, has quickened the spiritual nature, the 
intellect does not become supremely dominant, and 
education assumes that broader form which prepares 
the way for many-sided social life. 

If the critic complains at this introduction of the 
Spirit, then let him and his followers pursue the 
conventional course. But everyone who has for 
years given play to his intellect, then tried to curb 
it, knows how strong is the tendency to become a 
mere scholar. The temptation is to study on and 
on, absorbed in mere technicalities ; the true educa- 
tional spirit has many other demands which a man 
is likely to hear if his ears be not over-fascinated by 
the enticements of the intellect. 

Every man who has matured without the conven- 
tional school and college training would be other 
than he is had he been given that training, and no 
man can positively know which course would have 
led to the better results ; for we know only by doing. 
But every man who understands himself knows what 
influences have helped him most, and it is a signifi- 
cant fact that so many who are unconventionally 



io6 An Experiment in Education 

educated express their unwillingness to exchange 
their years of general reading and business experi- 
ence for the best training a preparatory school could 
give. 

The moral is easy. Raise the intermediate schools 
to a higher standard to meet the demands of those 
who are not fit subjects for the pressure system. 
Teach fewer subjects and teach them well. Prepare 
your -scholars for a life of individual thought, and 
do not permit the demands of college entrance 
examinations to defeat the purposes of education. 

Of all terrors in the educational world entrance 
examinations are the worst, and it is evident that 
something is wrong. Is it not unfair, for example, 
for the professor who is a genius in mathematics to 
select exceedingly difficult problems by which to 
test a boy's ability, then grant him barely fifty-five 
minutes in which to try to solve them ? It is surely 
no demerit to fail, and it is no wonder that so many 
students enter college conditioned in mathematics. 
Examinations, after all, are the chief sources of the 
pressure system. What a relief it is to enter college 
where, in so many courses nowadays, one may sub- 
stitute theses. 

Emerson's advice to a college boy was: ** Room 
alone and keep a journal." It is the spontaneous 
results of education which really show the progress 
a student has made. Every man who is alive to 
his opportunities is sure to give some sign of 
growth, and if he be not alive coercion will not make 
him so. But if Emerson was right, conventional 



An Experiment in Education 107 

education is largely wrong. Emerson assures us that 
education should be ** as broad as man," and he 
had already defined each individual as a ** new 
classification." ** Cannot we let people be them- 
selves, and enjoy life in their own way ? " he ex- 
claims. '* You are trying to make that man another 
you. One 's enough."^ You cannot tell what a 
boy or girl most needs any more than you can de- 
cide that he shall be a lawyer or a doctor. "That 
which a man can do best none but his Maker can 
teach him," again says our great seer. 

Having said so much against high and preparatory 
schools, it is time to admit that they are not all as 
objectionable as the foregoing aspersions would 
suggest. I know a teacher in a high school in one 
of our largest cities who is triumphing over the 
pressure system by explicitly showing his boys that 
to pass the entrance examinations is a secondary 
end, the first being the attainment of power, the 
cultivation of concentration and self-control. He 
emphasises these higher ideals by placing ** ideal 
suggestions " upon the blackboard for his pupils to 
copy, by explaining the functions of the subcon- 
scious mind, and by personal talks with each boy on 
purity and self-mastery. The results are excellent. 
There are probably many teachers who are winning 
the same triumph. There is surely every reason to 
encourage this reform within conventional ranks, 
every reason why the teacher should be spiritually 
as well as intellectually equipped. 

^ Essay on Education. 



io8 An Experiment in Education 

Yet our chief concern in this chapter is still with 
** the misfit," — the man who must unconventionally 
select his educational opportunities. 

That man is said to be badly educated who edu- 
cates himself, yet every thinker knows that in the 
best sense of the word education is fundamentally 
matter of self-development. It is what a man 
evolves out of his opportunities that counts, and it 
is almost commonplace nowadays to state that men 
who make their mark in the world are usually those 
who have come from the common walks of life and 
chosen opportunities which suited them — when it 
pleased them. Education, if it is to be ** as broad 
as man," must take full advantage of this native 
tendency to originate, experiment, and take its own 
time ; otherwise it is largely interference. 

In the profoundest sense, no man ever transcends 
the relative, individual point of view. This being 
so, there is every reason to develop this point of 
view to the full, that it may mature through its own 
strength, contributing in fullest measure to the 
growth of other minds. 

Man is by nature an imitative creature. This is 
a very strong reason why he should be encouraged 
to originate. Spontaneity and receptivity, leisure 
for experiment and meditation, are absolutely essen- 
tial to originality. The highest that a man can do 
is taught him by a spontaneous revelation welling 
up, according to laws of its own, in the minds of 
those whose lives are consecrated to it. All con- 
sciousness, all training, all reading, should be 



An Experiment in Education 109 

subordinate to this revelation. Everything else 
should be a means, this is the end. This guidance 
is detailed, adequate, faithful. It speaks successively- 
through instinct, desire, ambition, talent, intuition, 
genius. It applies to every possible situation. It 
exists for every soul. But in the majority it is 
ignored, misunderstood, and opposed. Hundreds 
of deflecting tendencies lead the mind away from it 
into pride, the glory of mere learning, egotism, and 
the rest. 

A man must believe in himself if he is to turn his 
educational experiment to spiritual account. He 
must work out every problem for himself. He must 
be as free from authorities, whether books, teachers, 
or organisations, all of which he may make use of, 
as he is free from the bondages which conventional 
society seeks to impose. 

Thus education becomes art for art's sake, work 
for work's sake, the pursuit of truth wherever it 
may lead. First, last, and always it is an experi- 
ment. It is illustrated by the life of the painter 
who is ever sketching and altering, to express a 
nobler ideal. It is seen in the striving of the musi- 
cian to express the harmonies and melodies of 
sound ; in the ambition of the poet, tirelessly work- 
ing to attain perfection of form. 

The critic now insists that such an experiment 
tends to create mere individualists. Not if it be 
thorough. Not if a man be truly an artist, really 
a scholar, a truth-seeker, one who knows his own 
mind and understands the laws of the universe. 



no An Experiment in Education 

Emerson says: ** We arrive at virtue by taking 
its direction instead of imposing ours." ** Obedi- 
ence alone gives the right to command." Thus 
education is adjustment between the individual and 
his environment, turning from side to side, from 
point to point, perspective to perspective. It is a 
continual weighing and testing, the development of 
self yet its correction, a balance between the sub- 
jective and the social consciousness. It must con- 
stantly be tempered by constructive criticism, and 
tested by controversy. All this is a part of the 
experiment. And the adjustment differs in every 
case. 

The cultivation of sympathy is as important as the 
preservation of spontaneity. Education is incom- 
plete nowadays unless it shows how the under half 
lives. The ** constructive individuality" which is 
its aim, according to David Starr Jordan,^ is the 
outcome of many tendencies, physical, intellectual, 
moral, social, and spiritual. It is a balance between 
heart and head. It supplements analysis by syn- 
thesis at that point where scepticism becomes merely 
negative. It forgets not love. It remembers that 
some things in life are meant to be enjoyed only. 
Poetry and music hold a permanent place in which 
scientific zeal is never permitted coldly to intrude. 
It is loyal to that which is essentially feminine and 
that which is distinctively masculine. In a word, it 
produces a man or a woman. 

The grand result, then, of our experiment is to 

^ Conservative Review, November, 1899. 



An Experiment in Education 1 1 1 

enable a man so to interpret his individual experi- 
ence and so to apply it, that his existence in the 
world shall be justified, that he shall be an honour 
both to God and to man. 

In the light of this ideal, we may restate our 
definition of education as, the recognition of and co- 
operation with the immanent Spirit, on all planes of 
existence, as it is revealed through the individual 
consciousness of man. Or, we may define it as the 
training of the individual powers to the full, that 
through their progressive development the unique 
relation of each soul to God, nature, and society 
may find adequate expression. Thus defined, edu- 
cation is lifted out of the limited sphere in which it 
has so long been confined; and dignified, yes, made 
truly possible, by intimate association with the 
Highest in life. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EXPRESSION OF THE SPIRIT 

There is only one thing better than tradition, and that is the orig- 
inal and eternal life out of which tradition takes its rise. — Lowell. 

IT is the fate of every idealist to be misunderstood. 
He sees somewhat which all men shall presently 
see, but just because his thought has seized a pos- 
sibility which lies beyond present attainment, be- 
cause he lacks the rational terms wherewith to clothe 
his ideals, he is deemed visionary and impractical, 
when in reality his doctrine is even more practical 
than the most common-sense ideas at present in 
vogue. 

Such an ideal is now taking shape in the minds of 
some of our leading educators. Its aim is the ex- 
pression of the soul quality in music, literature, and 
art. Not that this is essentially a new ideal, but 
that its advocates are seeking to make a great step 
in advance, to make the expression of the Spirit a 
more self-conscious pursuit. The more strenuous 
the endeavour to advance, the more vague the 
method seems to become. Yet vague as it is, one 
feels that there is a beauty here which indescribably 
surpasses the methods which it is displacing. 



The Expression of the Spirit 1 1 3 

In the world of music, for example, there are 
those who merely teach technique, whose perform- 
ances are marvels of technical skill, and those, on 
the other hand, who play and sing from the soul. 
One cannot tell definitely what is lacking in the 
former class. But there is a quality which they do 
not possess. And so with all the technique which 
the talented can command there is absent that 
subtle somewhat without which music is scarcely 
musical. 

In the intellectual world the contrast is equally 
striking. The educated man is, of course, eager to 
add to the sum of human knowledge, to make new 
inventions and discoveries. All this is legitimate, 
and there must be manual and intellectual training 
to meet these demands. In a certain sense educa- 
tion, strictly so-called, will always be intellectual. 
I am not pleading for a setting aside of these prac- 
tical demands, nor am I asking that schools and col- 
leges become the leading centres of religion. The 
plea is rather for the purification and enlargement 
of these purposes and methods, that they may be 
thoroughly in keeping with the ideals of the Spirit. 

Yet what avails the intellect without that training 
which, supplementing it, makes all technical power 
the instrument of the higher self ? The training of 
the intellect is, as we have noted again and again, 
but one among many kinds of discipline, all of 
which must have proper consideration. Since edu- 
cation is the development of all the powers for the 
purposes of adequate self-expression, since it is based 

8 



114 The Expression of the Spirit 

on self-knowledge and self-mastery, there must be 
discipline of all the tendencies in body and mind. 
The scholar who is still in subjection to tobacco 
is not fully a scholar. The teacher who is not mas- 
ter of his appetites is not yet worthy of imitation. 
Man is not half-trained if he lacks that health which 
freedom from vice, crowned by the attainment of 
all-round self-possession, alone can give. And the 
higher ideal which I am now suggesting does not 
even begin to be realised until this purity of life, 
this freedom from stimulants, vices, and the habits 
of the merely intellectual man, becomes the foremost 
characteristic of daily life. 

All the training one may possibly have, all the 
intellect, all the talent, the self-knowledge, the 
technical skill, all the self-conscious powers one may 
possess, are secondary to that grander purpose to 
which these must be consecrated if one desires to be 
truly an artist, truly an orator or musician. It is as 
if, having spent years and years in training the 
organism one should say, in all humility, ** I dedi- 
cate myself to thee, O Spirit, whence springs all life 
and power; do with them, do with me, what thou 
wilt. Henceforth I will live and think for the glory 
of the whole, for the beauty and grandeur of the 
great universal." 

Thus does the true artist, the real lover of truth, 
beauty, and virtue, consecrate himself that he may 
become an instrument of divine revelation. He 
seeks oneness with that invisible presence which 
ever surrounds the soul, that he may first of all 



The Expression of the spirit 115 

assimilate from the Spirit, that he may be imbued 
afresh with that creative life whence springs all that 
is original and inspiring in the world. The spiritual 
method is thus confessedly an emulation of the 
divine method of creation. 

The method of God, so far as we may read it in 
the inner history of man, is first the spirit, then the 
form ; first the involution about which we hear so 
little, then the evolution about which we read so 
much. The highest human method is therefore 
adaptation to this progressive quickening of God, 
and harmony with its resultant unfolding. If the 
Spirit is constantly welling into consciousness 
through a new moment, the ideal is, of course, to 
penetrate as near as possible to the fountain head of 
the Spirit, fully and freely to voice that revelation 
even though its message differs from that of all pre- 
vious experiences. It is this quickening, creative 
life which is the highest source of the originality for 
which we have contended in the foregoing chapter, 
the surest guide to genius, so far as the cultivation 
of genius comes within the province of self-con- 
sciousness. 

It has been obvious throughout that the free ex- 
pression of this spontaneous revelation is greatly 
hindered by formal plans, set programmes, and pre- 
arrangements. Ideally, both the speaker and the 
writer should be committed only to the Spirit. 

At the risk of seeming to make common the sacred 
and poetical, I venture the suggestion that with this 
dedication of self to '* the glory of the whole," one 



ii6 The Expression of the Spirit 

should put the mind in a special mood, lifting the 
soul to the plane of the universal in an attitude of 
worship or prayer. Rise above yourself, rise above 
your anticipated audience to that height where, one 
in consciousness with the Spirit, your entire being 
is offered in deepest humility to the Father. 

Thus, by the power of association, this form of 
words, " for the glory of the whole," or a similar 
phrase, will at any time serve to put the mind into 
the receptive mood. Such a phrase is a powerful 
suggestion, acting upon the subconscious mind with 
searching, prayerful life, and presently bringing 
forth results limited in power only by the earnest- 
ness of the consecrated appeal. The mind is thus 
put in touch with the undifferentiated Spirit, when 
it is not yet either distinctively love or reason, 
beauty, harmony, or truth, but all of these. Then 
the Spirit will voice itself in melody or harmony, as 
love, reason, truth, all that is beautiful, according 
to the temperament of the listener. 

The close observer will detect this receptive wait- 
ing on, the part of the great artist, or the speaker 
who expresses the Spirit. More and more this ideal 
is taking hold of the growing minds of the day. Sing- 
ing teachers are aiding their pupils to voice the soul, 
and pianists are discarding conventional methods 
and seeking to voice the inner spiritual mood. 

No one will be troubled by unpleasant self-con- 
sciousness and shyness who rises to the universal 
plane. Here all is for the Spirit, and there is no 
time to think of self. The thought of self belongs 



The Expression of the Spirit 1 1 7 

to the hours and days of training, when one neces- 
sarily delves deeply into temperament, laws, and 
principles. But when the hour of performance 
arrives the time is too sacred to spend in thinking 
what people will say, in fear lest one may not be 
seen or heard to good advantage. 

Perfect wisdom, love, beauty, harmony, and all 
the virtues spring from this creative world of the 
unvoiced Spirit. If a man would be great, let him 
listen here. If a man would progress, let him re- 
turn here day by day as eagerly as if he had never 
come before. If a man's life is thus dedicated to 
the expression of these inmost promptings, he is 
likely at any time to become the recipient of ideas 
of which he knew almost nothing until they took 
shape in words under his pen, or in the act of ad- 
dressing an audience. 

All whose desire is to penetrate the mystery of 
the human mind are conscious at times that this 
creative world is larger than their fullest and pro- 
foundest consciousness. Soar as we may into the 
realms of speculation, pursue our thought as we will 
in the endeavour to chain it fast in language which 
everyone shall understand, an undefined, unword- 
able residuum forever eludes us. We seem like one 
encased in a shell, wherein we may study and incul- 
cate our theory as we wish, but beyond which we 
never go except in the vaguest way. In these vague 
moments — vague because they are unwordable vis- 
ions — we realise the futility of mere speculation. If 
we could once break through the shell of individual 



ii8 The Expression of the Spirit 

consciousness, our whole thought would be in- 
stantly changed by the grander light from this realm 
of the creative Spirit which is beyond yet within 
all forms, all particular modes of manifestation. 

Yet it is important to remember that many of the 
ideas which spring suddenly from this creative realm 
— given us by spirits, as some think — are self-sug- 
gestions. We are reading a paper or listening to a 
friend, and an idea occurs to us which we would 
like to realise, but which we dismiss so quickly that 
all remembrance of it is lost. But our deeper self 
remembers it ; and in due time the idea comes forth 
full-fledged from the creative world, apparently new, 
and causing us to wonder whence it came. It is 
probable that all merely human thought is governed 
by suggestion in some form. The impulses which 
we feel that we must obey, and which seem like a 
separate mind commanding us, are only a suburban 
portion of ourselves, the richest and noblest portion 
of which is this subconscious creative receptivity, 
which in reality is the chief organ of all inspiration. 

As we have noted in a foregoing chapter, there 
are days when the mind is in a constructive mood, 
when every thought is valuable, when the right word 
eagerly comes to fit the right place. No analysis 
of ours can fully account for these days. The utmost 
we can say is that we supplied the subconscious 
mind with part of the data and sent out a prayer 
for light, but that the synthetic process is as mys- 
terious as the combination of powers and substances 
known as physical life. The mind marvels at its 



The Expression of the Spirit 119 

own powers on such days. It is for the time being 
an instrument of the creative genius, and all else is 
secondary to the act of transformation from spirit 
to form, from fragmentary ideas and facts to 
inductive result. 

Nevertheless, there are times when the best way 
to clarify one's ideas for literary purposes is to ex- 
press them to another in conversation, for in this 
way one discovers the treasured resources of creative 
subconsciousness. As man is a social being, his 
powers work to their full when with his fellows, or 
at least when preparing to address or help his fel- 
lows. One interview or discussion with an in- 
terested listener will oftentimes furnish material for 
an entire essay or chapter. Oftentimes one does 
not know what to believe on a certain subject until 
asked to state one's views. Then the slumbering 
subconscious becomes conscious, and one is sur- 
prised to find the mind in possession of a well- 
matured doctrine. 

One should make at least an abstract of the dis- 
cussion immediately afterward. Strike while the 
iron is hot. Write while you are most interested. 
And write at a heat, so to speak. That is, write 
first to express the thought, then criticise the Eng- 
lish at your leisure. Have pencil and paper always 
with you, that no important idea may escape. 
Make note of an idea, even if it be but a single 
sentence. The chances are that this sentence will 
suggest another, and that a third, until you have 
produced several paragraphs. 



1 20 The Expression of the Spirit 

It is undoubtedly true that he who writes well 
must write much. The young writer should not be 
discouraged if all of his earliest productions find 
their way into the waste-basket. There must be a 
survival of the fittest in the literary world ; and, if 
many notes and essays are destroyed before anyone 
but their author has read them, they will at least 
serve their purpose as practice work. 

It is well, even after college days, to keep a jour- 
nal in which notes on a great variety of subjects may 
be made. If the notes are of no apparent value at 
the time, a time may come when they will fit in 
admirably with later thoughts. Notes made at in- 
tervals of many months or years are found to belong 
together, and those whose minds work inductively 
will often discover unexpected wealth in this ac- 
cumulated material. It is frequently the latest 
and profoundest thought which unifies all the 
rest. 

All manuscripts should be put away to " season." * 
After a few weeks or months have elapsed, the mind 
will readily see what to add and what to strike out, 
what is written in the Spirit and what is not. Emer- 
son is reported to have said that the secret of his 
style was ** striking out." One does not like to 
sacrifice fine-sounding phrases immediately after 
they are written. But, when the pen has cooled, 
one's courage is stronger. 

The best writing is sometimes that which is most 

^ Tennyson is said to have put some of his poems aside for ten 
years of seasoning. 



The Expression of the Spirit 1 2 1 

easily written. Commit your thought to the sub- 
conscious mind. Let it germinate, and await its 
maturity. You will then produce a better piece of 
work than by sheer labour. The subconscious mind 
has a power of combining even dry facts in a man- 
ner which the conscious mind can seldom equal. It 
is therefore one of the secrets of successful literary 
work to study the workings of the subconscious 
mind and to rely upon it to perform a large share of 
the toil. 

The conventional method of literary production 
is to consult authorities, copy quotations, ask ad- 
vice, compel the brain to think by reasoning from 
premises to conclusions, arrange the data under 
various heads, divisions, and subdivisions, then 
work the brain, revise, and rewrite. The result is 
fairly satisfactory, but it possesses little originality. 

In the creative subconscious process, on the other 
hand, there is gradual assimilation of all that is 
thought day by day, and trustful brooding over the 
subject at hand. Then a day comes when one 
awakens with a strong desire to write upon that 
specific theme. The essay comes forth out of a full 
mind. It is original. It possesses fresh life. All 
that one knows has been worked in. Passages in 
some forgotten journal, or stray notes made at dif- 
ferent times, are found to belong with it. And lo 
and behold ! it is as rational, as systematic as though 
it had been consciously arranged under various heads 
and subdivisions. Better still, it possesses that 
carrying power which only the Spirit can impart. 



122 The Expression of the Spirit 

In the same way, the subconscious mind prepares 
for an extemporaneous address. Many speakers 
find that they must read their essays and lectures 
at first. As they become more accustomed to 
speaking, brief notes only are required. After a 
time the leading points, impressed on the mind 
shortly before, are sufficient. Finally, when the 
subconscious mind is trained so that all this is per- 
formed without effort, the address flows out of a full 
mind, its leading ideas combined by the spirit of the 
occasion. 

Authorities differ in regard to the merits of ex- 
tempore speaking. Yet to be true to the inspirations 
of the Spirit, one must speak only when, and only 
as long as, the soul is moved. Write only when you 
have something to say, when you are fully in the 
mood. If the mood changes ere the composition be 
finished, wait until the moving comes again. If 
you awaken in the morning with no desire to write 
on the same theme which absorbed you the day be- 
fore, give yourself to the new mood. It is of little 
avail to write on one subject while another continu- 
ally and with greater interest constantly wells up 
from the subconscious. 

Write for truth's sake, because you have some- 
thing to say. Do not *' descend to meet "a par- 
ticular audience, or write with a certain critic in 
mind. Write, if for anyone, for the average reader.^ 

^ Many of the suggestions given in Chapter XI. also apply to lit- 
erary composition, and the standards of Chapter XII. are literary 
tests. 



The Expression of the Spirit 123 

Make notes of ideas at once, even if important 
matters must be put aside until you register your 
impression. Ideas are more important than things, 
and it is worth while to secure them as they pass. 
Our impressions are most valuable when they are 
most vivid. 

Do not write too long at a time. Discover your 
best hours for work, and permit no serious interrup- 
tion. But devote the remainder of the day to other 
interests, to books, people, and out-of-door exercise. 
The morning hours are probably the sanest hours 
for literary work. Many find them the hours when 
one may work with least fatigue. But the inspira- 
tion for the morning's work often comes the evening 
before. 

Stop when you come to the end, and do not spin 
out to fill space. Anti-climaxes should not see the 
light in print. Do not pad or permit redundancies 
to pass. Remember that thousands of authors 
write verbosely, but only a few as Emerson wrote. 

It is well to choose Emerson as a model of style, 
in connection with careful reading of authors who, 
like Lowell or Addison, wrote a fuller style. James 
Martineau is a master of smooth-flowing style. His 
sentences are artistic marvels, very suggestive from 
the point of view of choice and variety of words. 
It is advisable also to read the great poets, both as 
masters of brevity and in order to enlarge one's 
vocabulary. 

Spare no pains to attain a good style. It is worth 
all time spent upon them to polish one's manuscripts 



1 24 The Expression of the Spirit 

before they are submitted to a printer. A manu- 
script should be put into its final form before it is 
set in type ; for typographical changes are not only 
expensive, but mar the beauty of a composition. 

Do not write primarily for money if you would do 
your best work. Money will come if you have really 
said something. If you have not, you do not want it. 

Do not hasten into print. Wait as long as you can. 
Keep out of fiction if possible. It is said that every 
writer thinks he can write a novel, but many cannot. 

If you have planned a book, let the plan subcon- 
sciously season. If you have written one, lay it 
aside and note the result. Do not repeat in a 
second book what you said in the first. It will lack 
inspiration. Let each book stand on its own feet, 
as if you had not produced another. Do not lean on 
the reputation earned by your most popular book. 
Quote seldom. Give credit for borrowed ideas. 

I have drawn my illustrations chiefly from the art 
of literary production. But so far as the above 
principles are true they apply, with adaptation, to 
all arts. All who manifest the Spirit may become 
artists if they will. It is almost as essential to fin- 
ish a literary phrase rhythmically as to take time 
to complete a musical phrase. Discordant word 
phrases are less noticeable perhaps, but they are as 
quickly detected by an expert as discord in music. 
The great singer cherishes her voice as a divine gift. 
So should all art be grounded in the Spirit, taking 
its cue in minutest detail from that inner guidance 
which is the choicest possession of the soul. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AN IDEAL SUMMER CONFERENCE 

To act now, not according to our poor human statutes and con- 
ventions, but according to the higher perfect law that we know only 
within our own breast ; to live here as the citizen of an ideal king- 
dom — that, it seems to me, were the proudest distinction a man 
could crave, — W. M. Salter. 

AN attractive physical environment — green fields, 
hills, running streams, or a lake, and a grove 
of pines. 

A spiritual centre created by a company of con- 
genial souls, drawn together on a purely impersonal 
basis, in search of truth, the Spirit. 

No merely formal programme, no mere isms, no 
fads, no personality worship, no exclusiveness, no 
favouritism ; and no prejudicial influence supported 
by those whose money secures a hearing for favoured 
beliefs. 

A cordial invitation to all who are attracted to 
come, either to speak or to listen, provided they are 
prompted by the spirit of impartial love and un- 
biassed research. 

No restrictions placed upon any teacher whose 
work is positive, constructive, universal. 

Impromptu meetings and informal discussions, 
125 



126 An Ideal Summer Conference 

unfettered by a predetermined subject or pre- 
arranged plan, participated in by those who are 
drawn together in the Spirit. 

Occasional discussions conducted by those who 
speak from the Spirit, for the better understanding 
of the spiritual realities of life, the spiritual law, and 
the spiritual method, that the work of the school 
may be kept impersonal, that it may pursue ** the 
strait and narrow way," avoiding deviations into 
occultism and negative criticism. 

For those who desire it, systematic instruction in 
the fundamental principles of universal spiritual 
philosophy, conducted by those who are not bound 
by loyalty to any particular creed, sect, terminology, 
name, organisation, club, church, or religion. 

Informal discussion of manifold practical methods 
for the realisation of the Spirit in all departments of 
daily life: the home, marriage, business, the care 
and healing of the sick, society, physical culture, 
art, science, literature, charity work, the labour 
problem. 

Talks with teachers, with special reference to the 
application of the Spirit in education. 

Nature studies and talks with children in regard 
to the laws of spiritual creation. 

Talks with mothers on the spiritual creative prin- 
ciple, prenatal influence, and the home life. 

Philosophical talks for authors, thinkers, clergy- 
men, and scientific men. 

Daily recreation and physical exercise for all who 
desire it. Daily social gathering. 



An Ideal Summer Conference 127 

Occasional gatherings of those who are interested 
to start other centres on a similar basis. 

One ideal in all departments : the expression of 
the Spirit through the individual soul. 

One method: the law of spiritual unfolding from 
within. 

One test : harmony with the inner promptings of 
the Spirit, unfettered by personal leadership, finan- 
cial considerations, influential advice, or personal 
ambition. 

As a practical application of the educational and 
philosophical ideal of this book, let us suppose that 
a beginning has been made in the development of a 
conference such as above suggested. A company 
of people is assembled under a group of pines on a 
beautiful New England hillside, overlooking a peace- 
ful valley. There are clergymen, teachers, authors, 
artists, musicians, and those who can be classified 
only as independent truth-seekers. No one has been 
persuaded to come. All have met with a common 
interest to discuss the problems of life, because they 
have accepted the above ideal ; and no one has come 
with the belief that his particular theory is the truth, 
while others possess only opinions. The meeting is 
the first of the session, and, as we take our places 
and listen, is being addressed by the truth-seeker 
who called the conference together. 

This beautiful new day is typical, my friends, of 
the great purpose which has brought us together 



128 An Ideal Summer Conference 

here, beneath the pines and far from the noise and 
confusion of city life. The earth and trees have 
been washed clean by a fresh rain, and all Nature 
welcomes the glad sunlight in anticipation of the 
beauties of the day. And so we assemble here to 
await the new revelations of that great Light which 
shines upon us from the spiritual world, making 
ourselves receptive in community of desire and one- 
ness of spirit, that we may in every way be mutually 
helpful as we study the laws and problems of the 
higher education. 

I have not called you here in a spirit of leadership. 
As every soul differs from all other souls, and as 
every experience is rich in messages of its own, so 
the point of view of each one present necessarily 
differs from that of every other. We are here to 
receive the light each may throw on our common 
problems. The truth, we believe, is so large and 
deep that it somehow needs us all. Therefore, all 
leadership is absorbed in and transcended by the 
spirit of equality, the only spirit in which all may 
meet to fullest advantage. 

We have agreed to study life in the making; it is 
making in the minds of each of us to-day. Let us 
investigate, then, with minds as open and free as if 
we had never speculated, surely as free as if we had 
received no theoretical inheritance from the past. 

My only thought in appointing myself the first 
speaker is to make a beginning, which must of 
course be made by some one, in the formulation of 
the issues before us. 



An Ideal Summer Conference 129 

Without doubt, all the reform movements of the 
present time may be summed up under the head of 
one grand ideal, freedom. The higher socialism 
seeks to set free the masses, and grant them equality 
of privilege. Philanthropists are seeking to free 
mankind from bondage to vice with all the torments 
it brings. The advocates of liberal religion are 
working to emancipate man from superstition, dog- 
matism, intolerance, creed, and ritual. Woman is 
seeking to free her fellow-woman. The spiritual 
movement of the time is toward the freedom of the 
soul, liberty and equality of individuality ; it is set- 
ting people free from doctors, medicines, diseases, 
and all the burdens of fear, ignorance of self, and 
mental servitude. And it is because of our belief 
in universal freedom that each of us has come here, 
where we have thrown aside the trammels of con- 
ventionality, to commune in entire liberty of spirit. 

Let us consider to-day some of the reasons for 
believing in universal freedom before we ask how 
we may emancipate humanity. The idea of free- 
dom, broadly conceived, is in itself a profound in- 
spiration. Once set men to thinking about it, and 
you shall see abundant results. For the bondage of 
bondages is ignorance, lack of thought. Courage 
to think, willingness to think, lies at the foundation 
of all growth. And all that we need to do in order 
to see the results each of us desires coming swiftly to 
humanity is to stimulate philosophical thought. 
That is, I express it as my sincerest conviction that 
every man, if he takes thought, will turn his powers 



I30 An Ideal Summer Conference 

in the higher direction, for humanity instead of for 
self; that no man is at heart perverse. 

As we look over these smiling fields and once 
more ask ourselves the great question of the ages, 
Whence came we and why are we here ? we realise 
that there are many of us, that the earth is large, 
and the answer must be broad and inclusive. I 
cannot say, as I ask the great question, that the 
earth is mine, because I am not the first occupant 
here. I may strive with my brother, and imprison 
him; but the fact remains that he has as good a 
right as I to enjoy the earth and to ask the great 
question. The fact even that the few have for ages 
made war upon the many and enslaved them does 
not alter the eternal fact that the earth, by virtue 
of our co-existence, is the home of all, the property 
of all, and that no company of men can rightfully 
exclude other men from its privileges. 

Approaching the problem from the universal 
point of view, therefore, it is evident that every 
man, woman, and child has a right to life, the use 
of the land and that which sustains life. No man, 
no trust, no state, no nation, has a right to deprive 
man of life, liberty, or that which is necessary for 
the sustenance of life. The land and its products 
are not and cannot in deepest truth become the 
property of the few. 

No man has a right to hold slaves. 

No parent owns a child. 

No husband owns a wife. 

* 

Every man, woman, and child, of whatever nation 



An Ideal Summer Conference 131 

or colour, has a right to freedom of individuality in 
thought and conduct. 

The fact that such freedom is not universally en- 
joyed to-day is no argument against these eternal 
principles. The selfish greed of the earth's masters 
simply indicates that the significance of man's pres- 
ence on the earth among countless millions possess- 
ing equal rights as human souls has not been fully 
apprehended. And so, without condemnation of 
those who sin against it, we simply state the law 
that 

If a man, woman, or child desires the freedom of 
individuality, not all the nations of the world have 
the right to take it away. 

If a people desires self-government, no nation has 
a right to deprive it of liberty. This principle ap- 
plies to Orientals, Africans, and all so-called inferior 
races. 

Wars of conquest are utterly wrong. All war- 
fare is barbaric. The civilised nation arbitrates, 
reasons. 

Government should be by the whole people. 

Matters of general public concern should be sub- 
mitted to the people. No representatives should 
have the right to plunge a nation into war. 

All government positions should be filled on the 
basis of merit, as a sacred trust from the whole 
people. 

If any persons become dangerous to the com- 
munity, they should be confined only so far as the 
safety of the community demands, not deprived of 



132 An Ideal Summer Conference 

those opportunities which make for self-development 
and mastery over the conditions which rendered 
coercion necessary. No state should have the right 
to commit murder under the guise of " punishment." 

The right to labour and enjoy the rewards of 
labour belongs to all. Freedom to experiment and 
develop beyond the masses, through the use of 
greater resources, is the right of the more talented 
only so far as this activity contributes to or does 
not interfere with the labour of others. 

Scenery and the wonders and beauties of nature 
should be free to all ; and no company of men, even 
if they hold ** deeds " to the land, have a right 
either to deprive it of its forests or other beauties 
unless by the consent of all who dwell in or near the 
region. In such cases it is supposed that beauty is 
secondary to utility. But, generally speaking, any- 
thing which renders nature attractive to man is to 
be faithfully preserved. 

The resources of the earth rightfully belong to all 
mankind, without monopoly and at the least ex- 
pense. 

The power of money is not ultimate. It is a 
medium of exchange by which man has evolved the 
unequal social conditions of to-day, and is rightly 
used only when taken to represent the least expense 
at which articles essential to our common develop- 
ment can be produced. 

The products of the earth, of manual labour and 
mental toil, were intended for all men. They have 
been temporarily used as means to business ends 



An Ideal Summer Conference 133 

only because man has been largely ignorant of 
humane ends. 

If business, social, educational, parental, marital, 
and other relationships interfere with the develop- 
ment of individuality, they are so far wrong. Man 
should be free to think for himself, educate himself, 
choose his occupation, select his wife. He should 
grant the same freedom to all in accordance with 
one moral standard for both sexes. 

The home life should be adapted to the growth of 
individual experiment and character. 

All educational facilities should be open to the 
choice of those who care to use them. 

The highest ofifice of the intellectual teacher is to 
persuade people to think for themselves. 

The function of the minister is to inspire the un- 
trammelled worship of the free soul. The fetters 
now imposed in the name of religion indicate only 
the ignorance of the great ideal of freedom of those 
who impose them. 

The environment of earth, society, and the world 
of mind is calculated to develop to the full the in- 
dividuality of each. But in order that this may be, 
as man is a social being, there must be recognition 
of this ideal both on the part of society and on the 
part of the individual. For, as society is an organ- 
ism, and its members both individually incomplete 
and socially supplementary, the freedom of man, 
either individually or collectively, is possible only 
through mutual understanding and mutual help. 

The realisation of all that society is to man should 



134 An Ideal Summer Conference 

make him profoundly grateful, as his presence on 
earth should make him rejoice. It should also 
inspire that earnest work of emancipation which, 
beginning at home, should extend itself to one's 
immediate associates, then spread abroad for the 
benefit of all mankind. 

The individual and collective emancipation of 
humanity being, then, the real meaning of all the 
struggles through which we pass, it follows that the 
most far-reaching work of reform is that which most 
directly brings man to consciousness of his privileges 
as a member of the social organism. 

What is needed as the outcome of this conference 
is workers who, imbued with this great ideal of 
social liberty, shall do everything in their power to 
awaken mankind to a knowledge of freedom. 

We who are here are doubtless bound in many 
ways, and I who speak to you may have unwittingly 
insisted upon just my theory of freedom. The con- 
ference is therefore open to other statements of the 
great problem before us. For we must first agree 
upon the ideal before we can consider methods for 
its realisation. 

The first day's session is closed with an animated 
discussion of different conceptions of freedom, and 
the difficulties to be met in persuading men to trans- 
mute the selfish spirit of monopoly into the loftier 
spirit of altruism. It is found that one of the chief 
difficulties is this: The law of natural evolution is 
the survival of the strongest, who push the weakest 



An Ideal Summer Conference 135 

to the wall. The Anglo-Saxon, believing himself 
the superior man, thinks he is carrying out his 
** manifest destiny," the work of nature, by con- 
quering the lower races, unmindful of the fact that 
** might makes right" is only the law of animal 
man, that there is a higher law, the law of ethics 
and the Spirit. The discussion, therefore, points to 
the universal quickening of ethical thought as the 
panacea for the ills from which our civilisation now 
suffers, the wide acceptance of the great precept, 
** Live and let live." 



CHAPTER IX 

THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT 

When I watch that flowing river which, out of regions I see not, 
pours for a season its streams into me, I see that I am a pensioner ; 
not a cause, but a surprised spectator of this ethereal water ; that I 
desire and look up, and put myself in the attitude of reception, but 
from some alien energy the visions come. — Emerson. 

LET us suppose that our summer conference has 
been in session one month. All phases of the 
social question have been under discussion and many 
practical remedies have been proposed. But the 
time has come when the question in all hearts is, 
Whence shall come the motive power which is to 
stir humanity to knowledge of the great truths thus 
far agreed upon ? It is Sunday, and the members 
of the conference are assembled beneath the pines 
in worshipful silence. Scarcely a sound breaks the 
restful stillness as the speaker approaches who is to 
propose the first answer to the burning question. 
The speaker takes his place, then rises to address 
the conference, standing for a moment or two in 
rapt contemplation before opening his lips to speak. 
He speaks as follows, but we can give only the 
words. The absorbed attention with which he is 

136 



The Ministry of the Spirit 137 

heard suggests that a presence is felt beyond all 
power of words to describe. 

If we could see as the Spirit sees, if we could see 
even as those exalted souls regard us who have at- 
tained the greater heights of the spiritual world, we 
should doubtless learn that a wealth of wisdom, a 
world of peace, and a great heart of love, await us ; 
but we are too active to receive. Therefore as we 
meet here once more beneath the pines, this glad 
summer day, our hearts yearning for spiritual life 
and wisdom, let us listen as we never listened be- 
fore, in community of spirit, in oneness of aspiration, 
with renewed dedication to the promptings and 
ideals of the Spirit. 

Peace, be still! Let all problems rest for a time. 
Let all anxiety cease. Be not so eager. Be trust- 
ful, restful, contemplative, gradually turning in con- 
sciousness beyond all that troubles the heart and 
disturbs the mind to that abode where the soul feels 
its oneness with eternity, looking before and after 
as if time were naught. Become centred there. 
Live and breathe in that purer region. Open the 
entire being in the attitude of assimilative listening. 
Peace, be still ! 

There is a living water which shall quench the 
thirst of the soul. There is a living food whereof 
the soul may eat and be truly fed. All about us 
here to-day, in and around every heart that beats 
and every soul that thinks, there is a power, a wis- 
dom, a love ready to fill and to guide the soul, if 



138 The Ministry of the Spirit 

only it be approached in that childlike attitude of 
perfect trust which opens the faculties and prepares 
the way for its coming. 

By cultivating peace, serenity, receptivity, by 
turning day by day to the one source whence all 
power springs, each of us may become a centre of 
distribution of spiritual life so that we may carry it 
to the sorrowing and the afflicted, to the ignorant 
and the darkened who cannot see, each of us may 
give that food which nourishes and that water 
which quenches. But each must say, at least in 
spirit, as he enters the eternal abode to be filled 
with this quickening power: Not as I will, but as 
thou wilt, O Father ! Of myself I know not. Thou 
knowest. I leave all. I offer all. I am willing to 
endure all. Only quicken and guide me, that I 
may be in deepest truth thy holy messenger. 

To possess and to manifest this spiritual power — 
this, my friends, is the solution of the problems we 
consider here. There is no need to speculate. It 
is futile to ask how the churches shall be filled, if 
you continue to cling to forms and ceremonies. It 
is of little avail to ask how missionary and charity 
work shall become truly effectual, so long as you 
are unwilling to abandon pet theories and methods. 
There is but one way to meet all the demands of 
the thousands who are now dissatisfied ; and that is, 
to become ministers of the Spirit. The people are 
hungry, and must be fed. If you do not abandon 
all and go where that cometh which feedeth all, you 
must see your occupations passing from you, while 



The Ministry of the Spirit 139 

others shall be raised up who will utter what you 
do not dare. 

The minister of the future will be one who, first 
having attained the spiritual plane, has the courage 
to abandon himself to the spontaneous upwellings 
of the Spirit. He must speak for the Spirit, not for 
the congregation. If not moved to make a prayer 
or preach a sermon, let him declare the presence of 
the Spirit as seems most fitting at the time. If he 
can no longer read the service or repeat the creed, 
let these pass. 

There is a prayer which no words can utter, there 
is a sermon no lips can preach, a service which never 
assumed a visible form. It is the aspiration of the 
soul, the power of a dedicated life, the presence of 
quickening love. When that power speaks through 
the soul, although it finds no utterance in words, it 
reaches far and wide. When that power speaks, all 
men and women, of whatever creed, listen. When 
that power speaks, there is no question in regard to 
the effect of one's doctrine, no doubt whether one 
shall be provided with daily bread. Obstacles van- 
ish, persecution ceases, critics are silenced, all the 
world gives ear. For, when that power speaks, the 
Spirit speaks. 

My friends, the Spirit really lives. It is here. It 
knows our needs. It can conquer all things. Only 
seek it. Only dedicate your souls to its spontaneous 
revelation. 

We must live a simple life if we would be thus 
quickened. There must be ample time for unpre- 



HO The Ministry of the Spirit 

meditated listening. There must be measureless 
unselfishness. 

The singer, listening to the Spirit before he sings, 
may pour forth in soulful song that transcendent 
harmony which speaks to the heart. The poet may 
suggest its presence in his verse. The author, 
writing only when the Spirit moves, will find that a 
greater than he has written. The speaker, turning 
aside from his audience in renewed dedication, will 
lose all self-consciousness, and find that his hearers 
are touched where no foresight of his could have 
touched them. The clergyman, casting aside his 
dogmas, will be moved to utter those sweet mes- 
sages of peace which really comfort the bereaved 
heart. The artist may paint its beauties. The 
pianist may play as never master of technique has 
played. And, noblest of all, the father and mother 
may make the home a Christ home, a centre of that 
creative love whence springs a nobler generation. 

Each of you has some gift like those I have 
named. Each of you has a message for the world. 
Reverence that gift, believe in that message, then 
trust all else to the Father. You are trying to 
solve that which is insoluble while you regard your 
work from the merely human point of view. Your 
hearts are touched with pity ; yet you dwell on the 
conditions, and not on the end to be attained, 
through the sufferings of the world. One alone 
knows the way. Through spiritual inspiration does 
he alone declare it. Spiritual ends are highest. 
Spiritual ideals triumph over all. What is spiritual 



The Ministry of the Spirit 141 

must ever be spiritually discerned. Therefore make 
the supreme leap of faith, even where all the way is 
dark. 

For our souls are bathed in a spiritual atmos- 
phere: a spiritual sunlight falls upon them. Here 
and now — yes, truly, here, in this living present — 
we dwell in the spiritual world. There is a realm in 
which the Spirit is directly manifested, without the 
media to which we are accustomed in the flesh. 
There is also in us a faculty by the exercise of 
which we may draw power from thence. It is the 
function of this faculty to open, as the petals and 
leaves of a plant open. The sensation of receiving 
power is accompanied by a sentiment of reverence, 
a feeling of sacred humility and worship. 

The grandeurs and beauties, the peace and joy of 
this environing world, no words can reveal. But oh 
that words could prove to all mankind that this 
spiritual world exists! Oh that every sorrowing 
heart could feel its comfort, that every sufferer 
could be restored by its peace ! 

My words may sound extravagant to you. I may 
have utterly failed even to suggest the real message 
I would bring to you to-day. But where my words 
fail the Spirit will speak. Let us therefore try once 
more together in silence to feel that surrounding 
Presence. 

Peace, be still! Forget all else but the Spirit. 
In calmness and repose send out your thought in all 
directions into the great universe. Unite in con- 
sciousness with that finest, inmost Essence which 



142 The Ministry of the Spirit 

fills all space, entering into its peace, contemplating 
its beauty, resting in its encompassing love. 

[The speaker becomes absorbed in thought as his 
words become ever gentler, with moments of wait- 
ing between sentences. An expression of sweet 
peace rests upon his face, and his hearers are lifted 
by the power which radiates from him as he con- 
cludes. . . . As if oblivious of all present, he 
at length voices his thought.] 

O Power whence cometh all the energy which 
stirs this universe, O Wisdom which guides all the 
activities of men, O Love which unites all hearts to 
thee, unto thee I dedicate anew all that is in me. 
Unto thee I open my soul anew, that it may be 
filled with thy peace, that it may be inspired by thy 
love. Guide me, that I may be faithful to thy 
presence. Many times I forget, and then humbly 
return to thee. Many times we have each and all 
forgotten even here where we have assembled to 
learn thy law. But we would be true, we would 
ever manifest thee. And so we begin again with a 
zeal unknown before, yet a zeal which inspires us in 
stillness, in that far inner world where all souls are 
near, whence all our noblest deeds arise. . . . 
As we go, one and all, in silence, when the soul of 
each is moved, let us bear with us the Presence 
which has been with us to-day. Let us walk with 
that peace which has filled our souls, and forget not 
that love which has drawn us together as fellow-work- 
ers in the greatest of all spheres in all the universe, 
the kingdom of the Spirit. Peace, peace, peace ! 



CHAPTER X 

THE MYSTERY OF PAIN AND EVIL 

Could we raise the veil that enshrouds eternal truth, we should 
see that behind nature's cruelest works there are secret springs of 
divinest tenderness and love. — John Fiske. 

ONE of the profoundest discoveries possible to 
the human mind is the fact that all our 
knowledge is relative to individual experience or 
consciousness ; that as we are, so is our particular 
world. At first sight, seemingly limiting our powers 
beyond all hope of gaining satisfactory information 
about life, knowledge of this relativity is in truth 
the only sound basis of systematic thought. For as 
long as we please ourselves with the illusive fancy 
that absolute knowledge is possible, we overlook 
not only the deep significance of evolution but be- 
come continually involved in contradictions from 
which there is no hope of escape. 

While a man believes in infallible inspiration, he 
dogmatises, asserts, and offers no real proof. But 
when he learns his true relationship to the universe, 
he discovers the glorious possibility, which we have 
considered in the foregoing chapter, of becoming a 
minister of the Spirit. He learns that just this 

143 



144 The Mystery of Pain and Evil 

apparently insuperable limitation is precisely that 
which enables him to manifest the Spirit as can no 
other man. Without relativity as a fundamental fact, 
education and philosophy are alike impossible. The 
very basis of religion is the worship by the part of 
the whole, the discovery by the finite that it is finite. 

The limitations of finite consciousness are well 
illustrated by the relations of a plant in the sun- 
light. The plant can absorb from the sun's energy 
that alone which the capacity of its leaves permits. 
What it absorbs is taken into instant relation with 
what it already possesses ; it becomes part of itself. 
In the same way the mind assimilates from a lecture, 
from travel, only what it is prepared to receive. All 
else is passed by as if it were naught. 

Thus any inspiration partakes of the imperfec- 
tions of the scribe. Even if biblical, it is given 
through a human organism, and is clothed in the 
language which happens to be native to the prophet, 
although its wisdom may in a measure surpass the 
comprehension of the recipient. 

Again, the relativity of knowledge is illustrated 
by physical sensation. What is called colour is 
partly due to external vibration, partly to the struc- 
ture of the eye : the sensation is a relative product. 
If all eyes were absent there would still be vibration. 
But what that vibration is in itself, apart from the 
percipient organism, no one knows. We know only 
the combined result in even the most definite of our 
visual experiences. 

Likewise sound is known only in relation to the 



The Mystery of Pain and Evil 145 

ears through which it is heard. Light, heat, and cold 
are such only for the organisms which perceive them. 
Injure the organism and the result will be altered. 
If we could greatly develop our senses, what won- 
ders we might hear and see! 

My knowledge of the world is merely what my 
experience has told me, and what I have learned 
from books and men. But what I learn from books 
and men is understood in relation to my particular 
intelligence. All that I know of my closest friend 
is what my experience with that friend has revealed. 
I cannot converse, read a book, witness a play, or 
listen to a lecture apart from my point of view. 

Further, no two persons behold even the same 
physical object, for example, a tree; for what we 
behold is a mental picture or idea resulting from 
the sensations of colour, form, etc., gathered by our 
physical organisms. We assume that our idea is 
like the tree, but we do not know it, and cannot 
prove it. We know only our states of conscious- 
ness, and these are intelligible only so far as we have 
philosophised. 

Let me soar into the sky, strike my hand against 
a rock, enter a trance, transmit thought, or lose 
myself in spiritual ecstasy ; all these experiences are 
alike conditioned by what I am and what I have 
thought. If I am developed by them, the new 
thought necessarily enters into relation with the old. 
I can grasp only what my state of development per- 
mits. What may exist beyond, ** in the air," on 
Mars, on Venus, I know not. 



146 The Mystery of Pain and Evil 

This profound discovery, that experience is 
coloured by the state of mind and body of the 
recipient, and that therefore the recipient's state of 
development is the condition to be changed and not 
the external circumstance, has a very important 
bearing on the problems of pain and evil. 

One frequently hears the remark that ** some- 
where in the universe there is a screw loose," or. 

Had I been present at creation, I would have or- 
dered things very differently." When questioned fur- 
ther, these critics of the universe confess their utter 
hatred of the present order of things. They complain 
bitterly at the existence of sorrow and pain, of evil 
and disease, which they always trace to some out- 
side source. Man, they assure us, should have been 
created sound, virtuous, with knowledge of self and 
knowledge of the meaning of death. In other words, 
the ministry of suffering is deemed a dismal failure. 

More persistent questioning reveals the fact that 
these critics have never come to judgment. They 
are constantly condemning others for wounding 
their feelings. They are in perpetual torment be- 
cause animals and far-distant peoples suffer. Or 
they are numbered among those who, puffed up 
with the pride of family, atheistical, absorbed in a 
particular branch of study, have never opened wide 
their hearts to receive all men as brothers and all 
truth as one. In other words, they lack just this 
profound knowledge which we are considering in 
this chapter, that all experience is relative to the 
state of the recipient. 



The Mystery of Pain and Evil 147 

Suppose for a moment that things had been 
ordered as one of these hypersensitive or aristocratic 
critics would have chosen. Suppose your own most 
fondly cherished Utopian scheme could have been 
substituted for the world-system now in vogue. 
Would the universe have been either perfect or 
painless, to say nothing of its habitability ? 

What sort of life would man have lived had he 
been born perfect, wise, free from pain and the 
temptations of moral evolution ? Judging from 
what we know of hfe as it exists to-day, the man 
who is without the spur of suffering in some form 
does not think, does not grow. It is a law of life 
as we find it that man grows strong through contest 
and wise through victory. If philosophic thought 
goes with it, the man who has suffered most is the 
wisest, the most sympathetic, the most broadly 
helpful. Without the sharp pangs of pain, man is 
too easily contented to trouble himself about either 
self-development or the good of others. Had he 
been born perfectly sane and altruistic, life would 
have been very much like existence in the orthodox 
heaven with its monotonous psalm-singing along 
the golden streets, or the Buddhistic Nirvana where 
all work ceases. 

Work is the glory of man, and the zest of work 
is that priceless conquest of obstacles which tests 
human ingenuity to the full. It is use alone which 
enables man either to add to, or to keep his strength. 
It is individual contact with and study of the great 
realities of life which alone teaches their meaning 



148 The Mystery of Pain and Evil 

and worth. ** Nothing venture, nothing have"; 
and, to venture, we must be ignorant of the out- 
come. If man could be told the sequel ere he began 
the story, life would lose all its zest. If he were 
simply " good," he would be very weak and un- 
interesting. Life would be like a perpetual summer 
with never a drop of rain, every living thing per- 
fectly white, the same monotonous sound breaking 
upon the ear, no pleasure because no pain with 
which to contrast it, nothing doing because nothing 
to do, not even a problem to solve in the drearily 
identical state of mind of the poor inhabitants, who 
would be absolutely alike. ^ For relativity and con- 
trast are essentials without which experience is 
impossible. 

Or, try to imagine life organised on a painless 
basis so far as the mere activities of the body are 
concerned. There would then be no warning sensa- 
tion of fatigue, nothing to show that Nature is re- 
pairing an injury or readjusting her forces after an 
excess; and, consequently, man would be in con- 
stant danger of maiming his body for life or causing 
instant death. For pain is primarily an indication 
that the natural rhythm, or equilibrium, of the body 
has been disturbed. In itself, it is perfectly good, 
beneficent. It is only man's misuse, ignorance, and 
infliction of it that has caused it to be accentuated 
into disease, and brought into such disrepute that 
it is ungraciously called " evil." 

^ For an able discussion of the law of contrast, see John Fiske, 
Through Nature to God, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., 1899. 



The Mystery of Pain and Evil 149 

A universe without this kind messenger of har- 
mony and love would be utterly cruel and contempt- 
ible. Nothing in life is more directly meant for 
man's good and man's education, yet nothing has 
been more persistently misunderstood. 

Could any arrangement be wiser than to have pain 
increase to the degree that man permits his atten- 
tion to become absorbed by it, in so far as he opposes 
it, puts drugs or other obstructions in its way, or 
persists in his sensuous and other excesses ? Does 
anything in life more plainly teach its lesson than 
this appealing, beneficent guardian, pointing out to 
man that all his diseases and moral struggles are the 
fruits of his own misconduct and his own ill-adjusted 
life? 

Yet why should the warning be painful ? some 
one asks. Because man would not give sufficient 
heed unless it were. Why, then, was not man born 
with a greater sense of responsibility ? Because re- 
sponsibility, like everything else, is appreciated only 
through gradual evolution ; it is a result of the pro- 
found discovery of our relative dependence on each 
other, and the tremendous importance of our in- 
dividual acts. 

Since all virtues, all wisdom, health, and all noble 
attainments are possible only through relativity, 
evolution, and contrast, the fundamental issue is 
this: Why is man subject to these laws ? Because 
he is limited in power and capability, and can only 
acquire bit by bit. If, finally, the sceptic asks, 
Why is man thus limited ? the only answer is that 



150 The Mystery of Pain and Evil 

he would otherwise be infinite. A being who should 
be able to apprehend all these things would be men- 
tally omnipotent at one time. Granted finite in- 
dividuality, you must have the limitations of time 
and of evolution. The more there is to be known 
and attained, the more must man be limited by the 
only known method of attainment ; namely, through 
progressive relativity or evolution. Sweep away 
evolution, and you sweep away the condition par 
excellence which renders finite life possible. 

There are those who thoughtlessly declare that 
man is perfect now, that there are no limitations, 
there is no progress, and thought is omnipotent. 
But, if one man were perfect, all men would be per- 
fect, since perfection is social completion ; and who 
would claim this for society ? If man were without 
limitations, he would be absolute in all particulars. 
It stands to reason that there could be but one such 
being. If there be no progress, there is absolute at- 
tainment; in other words, perfect rest. But by 
hypothesis, and in actual fact, there is strife, evil, 
and pain, from which we all seek escape. If thought 
be omnipotent, it can create its own laws, regardless 
of the eternal laws of the ages. Thus all these 
theories prove their originators to be ignorant of the 
great fact of relativity, the value of the imperfect 
and the limited as organic parts of the social and 
cosmic whole. 

The simple facts are that we are here in a world- 
order which justifies itself to each soul as rapidly, 
and only as rapidly, as the soul comes face to face 



The Mystery of Pain and Evil 151 

with its own limitations. When man learns that 
action and reaction are equal, and that his own 
activity is the prime cause of all that he suffers or 
enjoys, he holds the key which unlocks the entire 
mystery of suffering and evil. The universe is evil 
only to him who does not understand its laws. 
Only that man commits evil who is still ignorant 
that the universe will catch him, even if he escapes 
the law of man. He only complains of the suffer- 
ings of humanity who has failed to grasp the great 
fact of social evolution, that human life is an organ- 
ism. Finally, he still suffers pain who has not yet 
fully learned the great lesson of adjustment. 

If with the existence of pain and evil, man is bet- 
ter off than if the world had been created ** perfect," 
it follows that the so-called ** perfect " is artificial. 
If evil be indispensable, it is a part of the evolution- 
ary scheme, and does not by any means imply that 
there is an adversary rampant in the world. The 
** devil " is just our own relative imperfection, which 
is deemed diabolical only so long as the great fact is 
unknown that all the circumstances of human life are 
conditioned by man's own lower and higher nature. 

The educational value of evil is dependent on the 
discovery of our true worth in life as moral and 
spiritual individuals. Half of the mystery is ex- 
plained when we learn that without relative evil 
there could not be relative good, that our own ignor- 
ance is the prime cause of the " curse " that is upon 
us. The other half becomes clear with the dis- 
covery of " The New Point of View," when we 



152 The Mystery of Pain and Evil 

learn the evolutionary origin of the tendencies in us 
which we call evil. On the other hand, the problem 
is half solved when we understand the meaning of 
pain, and how by attaining health and equanimity 
we may avoid it. The remaining half of the so- 
lution is found only in the solution of the social 
problem. For the problem of evil is inextricably 
blended with all the problems of social regenera- 
tion and reform. We have all evolved together, 
we all share in our animal inheritance, and we 
must together find freedom from this inheritance 
through the social cultivation of our higher nature. 
Thus the social problem becomes the problem par 
excellence which the educated man is called upon to 
solve. Upon this question he must bring to bear 
all his learning, all his wisdom, all the training 
which the struggle for self-expression has brought 
him. And thus shall his existence be most fully 
justified, for it is this necessity which above all 
others furnishes an opportunity for service, and thus 
in turn evil itself finds its fullest justification. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAL 

" Philosophy is knowledge of things not as they appear but as they 
are caused." 

THE first essential in all scientific and philosoph- 
ical inquiry is to define the object of one's 
search, the second is to formulate a method by the 
faithful application of which one hopes to attain 
ultimate truth. In this chapter I shall try to out- 
line both the ideal and the method of philosophy, 
and make a few suggestions which may prove help- 
ful to the student. 

In simple terms, philosophy is a rational interpre- 
tation of life. Its scope is as wide as the universe. 
Its ideal is the critical examination and unification 
of all knowledge : the truth contained in all history, 
science, religion, art, morality, and all speculations 
concerning the future. It underlies all education. 
It underlies all practical life. Consequently, nothing 
is excluded by it, no event is uninteresting, no as- 
piration without its meaning. It is as deeply con- 
cerned with all that is dear and true to you and me, 
as it is to understand the system of the stars, or 
surprise the secrets of nature. Its interests are 

153 



154 The Philosophical Ideal 

literally unlimited, and always progressive. It is 
human, sympathetic, appealing; it aspires even to 
fellowship with God. It pays the highest price for 
virtue, yet is not ashamed to be seen with the sin- 
ner, and is as much at home among the lowly as in 
the proudest gatherings of society's idols. 

Perhaps the easiest approach to the general point 
of view of philosophy is by the statement that a 
metaphysic, or theory of first principles, is involved 
in every word we utter, in every action, in every 
thought ; for all our acts imply certain assumptions 
or beliefs in regard to the world. For example, 
philosophy supplies education with its experimental 
ideal. The statement that all life is educational 
involves an entire philosophical system. We have 
an illustration of a philosophical attitude in the fore- 
going chapter, where philosophy rationalises the 
existence of pain and evil. Thus every general 
statement about life involves the essential principle 
of a world-system. We proceed on the hypothesis 
that an external world exists, that it is real or that 
it is good. We believe that other beings besides 
ourselves exist, and we believe ourselves capable of 
effecting changes in the world ; for experience has 
taught us to respect the universe as superior to our 
wills, yet in a measure responsive to them. All 
science is based upon such assumptions as these; 
that is, science begins by describing forces and sub- 
stances, beings and things; it asserts that we have 
but to open our eyes in order to behold a world of 
living organisms, evolution, dissolution, order, law, 



The Philosophical Ideal 155 

system. Every art, every branch of human activity, 
must have its tools to work with, and the majority 
are content to take things as they are without trac- 
ing out these implications and assumptions to their 
ultimate foundation. 

Philosophy begins where human thought in gen- 
eral rests content, and is primarily concerned with 
that which lies beyond, with the ultimate origin, 
nature, and destiny of the universe. It asks ques- 
tions which seem absurd at first sight, but which 
prove to be the profoundest of all problems, namely, 
Are these postulates rightfully assumed ? Is it true 
that an external world exists ? Is there really a 
self or soul capable of exerting free will ? Are there 
other selves ? Is there in truth a God, a world- 
system, goodness, beauty ? If so, what is the 
meaning of it all ? How came it to be, and whither 
is it tending ? In short, the philosopher questions 
and examines every fact, asking not only if it is a 
fact, if we really know it, but hozv we know it, and 
why we know it, and if it may be rationally doubted. 

The great philosophers seem to possess an instinct 
for the perception of life's goodness and meaning, 
as though there were some door left open to them 
which is closed to other men. They seem to be in 
immediate touch with the essence of life, in divine 
communion, as though in their inmost hearts they 
knew life's entire secret. It is true, all fail in the 
statement of what they perceive. Although pro- 
gress is constantly being made, there is not a phi- 
losophical system, from the earliest attempts in 



156 The Philosophical Ideal 

India to the Spencerian philosophy of evolution 
to-day, which satisfies the human mind ; nor do all 
of these together, nor all the bibles of the world in 
addition, meet our full demand. Yet imperfect as 
their statements may be, one feels that many phi- 
losophers have really had the holy vision. Nature 
speaks to us in just such language as this, and it 
would be profane if one could translate it literally. 
The greatest philosopher is he who can quicken this 
instinct for the wholeness, the fulness of things, 
and at the same time be accurate in statement. 
Many may feel life's spirit, many can state bare 
facts, but it is only the few who are equally true 
both to feeling and thought, and their relations. 
The philosopher, therefore, in order to reduce all 
beliefs, assumptions, and visions to their ultimate 
theories of life, must of necessity be the fairest, the 
broadest, and most fundamental thinker. He can- 
not, like other people, belong to sects, organisations, 
and schools, so far as these place restrictions on a 
person, but must be impartial, impersonal, and free. 
He cannot, for example, be a mere socialist, a mere 
politician or historian. Yet no one must understand 
socialism, politics and history better than he. He 
must not rest content with the surfaces of things, 
but must ever ask. What is real, what is enduring, 
what does it mean ? 

This, in a word, is the very essence of philosophy, 
namely, the belief that there is something besides 
appearances; that beneath, above, beyond all this 
that passes, above, behind, yet revealed in these 



The Philosophical Ideal 157 

things we see, these pains we suffer, and these joys 
that lift us to a higher plane, there is a Reality that 
abides, an Intelligence which directs, a Being which 
animates. 

In one sense, all men are philosophers, for all have 
learned to avoid illusion ; most of us believe there 
is a power behind phenomena, and we have all treas- 
ured up bits of philosophic wisdom gleaned from 
experience. Yet we find it difficult to give reasons 
for the faith that is in us. The philosopher gives 
his life to the search for reasons. And if a philos- 
opher finally becbmes an idealist, it is not because 
he wants to believe that ideas are more enduring 
than things, but because reason itself has convinced 
him of it. 

Exact philosophy is thus more fundamental than 
the doctrines which usually pass current as creeds 
and theological systems. The old theology, for 
example, made certain assumptions concerning God 
as creator, outside of the world ; his incarnation as 
" the only begotten son " ; as composed of three 
persons in one ; as demanding a propitiatory sacri- 
fice ; but it did not ask how these things could be. 
The history of thought shows that the moment 
men began seriously to ask. How ? the power of 
these dogmas began to wane. 

Again, popular optimism and pessimism are un- 
concerned with fundamental problems. In the one 
attitude, a man assumes that this is the best of pos- 
sible worlds, in the other that it is the worst. But 
Sully points out, in his masterly refutation of the 



158 The Philosophical Ideal 

pessimism of Schopenhauer and Hartmann/ that as 
this is the only world known to us it is arrogance on 
our part to assume that this is the best or the worst 
of possible worlds. Sully refutes pessimism on its 
own grounds, finding it unscientific, irrational, and 
unproved. Furthermore, it is clear from discussions 
like his that some are pessimists by nature, while 
in other cases optimism of temperament finds ex- 
pression in optimism of philosophy. 

Others assume either that life is already explained 
by some doctrine to which they have become zealous 
converts, or that it is hopelessly mysterious. But 
here again assumption calls for fundamental inquiry. 
In a doubt that a philosophical system is possible, a 
theory of ultimate knowledge is already implied.'* 
Man cannot therefore escape from being some sort 
of philosopher, if he thinks at all. If he does not 
think, a metaphysical theory is nevertheless con- 
fessed by his conduct, as we have already suggested. 

It is clear, then, that no doctrine is worthy of 
being called a philosophy which fails to look beneath 
its own terms in search of ultimate reality. " It is 
the only science," says Kant, *' which admits of 
completion," and he further defines it as ** the 
science of the first principles of human cognition." ^ 
That is, it asks not only what we may know, but 
how we know it. "It is the totality of all known 

* James Sully, Pessimism. Appleton, 1891. 

- See Bradley, Appearance and Reality, Introduction. Swann, 
Sonnenschein, & Co., London, 1893. 
2 Critique of Pure Reason, 



The Philosophical Ideal 159 

facts in the unity of an intelligible system," says 
F. E. Abbot. It is (i) sceptical, as defined by 
Bradley ^ : '* I understand by it to become aware of 
and to doubt all preconceptions ' ' ; (2) constructive , 
as defined by James Martineau^: *' Systems of 
philosophical opinion grow from the mind's instinc- 
tive effort to unify by sufficient reason, and justify 
by intelligible pleas, its deepest affections and ad- 
mirations " ; and (3) ultimate, as defined in a recent 
lecture by Professor Ladd of Yale: " There are 
three kinds of knowledge ; that of the practical kind, 
which distinguishes men from fools, the knowledge 
of common sense ; and there is scientific knowledge, 
although this cannot be divided in a hard and fast 
way, since the every-day knowledge of our time was 
once scientific knowledge. These two kinds, some 
people think, are the only kinds of knowledge, but 
the human kind is not and never has been satisfied 
with these two alone. Philosophy is older than 
science, and is more fundamental. The scientist 
himself must make this leap beyond science, or he 
does not know what is real. That he must make as- 
sumptions is proved by Huxley himself, who on one 
page was an uncritical realist, on the next an agnos- 
tic, and on another a Berkleyan idealist. There is 
a natural craving for a kind of certainty which goes 
beyond scientific certainty. Teachers of the physi- 
cal sciences are not capable of satisfying this craving. 
Ask the astronomer who observes things in space 

^ Appearance and Reality. 

'^ Types of Ethical Theory. Macmillan, & Co., 1891. 



i6o The Philosophical Ideal 

and knows their laws what that space is, and he 
must come to philosophy." 

A philosophical system, then, is a scheme in which 
the presuppositions of all the sciences, such, for 
example, as the existence of nature, of forces, of 
selves, of the moral law, are reduced to intelligible 
unity in accordance with some rational principle. 
It seeks to eliminate all prejudice, narrowly temper- 
amental bias, and the limitations of time and place. 
It is never reared in intellectual isolation, and must 
certainly fail unless it take cognisance of all previous 
systems of any importance.^ The aim of philosophy 
is indeed the most audacious and comprehensive 
ever conceived by man, namely, to discover and 
state in precise language not only the truth about 
the universe and all it contains — interpreted in the 
light of our growing knowledge — but to put all this 
in its true light in relation to the history of thought. 

Thus broadly defined, the problems of philosophy 
may be summarised in the words of Kant "" : " What 
can I know ? What ought I to do ? What may I 
hope for ? " F. Perron sums them up in nine ques- 
tions: ** We must ask respecting things: If they 
are ? What they are ? How they are ? By what ? 
Why ? Where ? When ? How many ? In what 
relations ? And these nine questions lead to nine 

^ Consult Royce, T/ie Spirit of Modern Philosophy, Lecture I. ; 
Windleband, History of Philosophy. For further definitions, see the 
histories of philosophy by Ueberweg, i,, Introduction, § i ; Erdmann, 
i., Introduction ; Zeller, History of Greek Philosophy, i., i. 

^ Critique of Pure Reason. 



The Philosophical Ideal i6i 

categories, respectively : Existence, Essence, Mode, 
Causality, End, Space, Time, Number, Relation." 

In a more definite way we may state the great 
problems as follows : 

What is matter ? Are atoms (if they exist) ulti- 
mate ? 

What is mind or consciousness ? 

How are matter and mind related ? 

What is force — ultimately ? (Mechanism.) 

What is life — ultimately ? (Organism.) 

What is causation — ultimately ? (God.) 

What are time and space ? 

Do we possess any knowledge beyond experience ? 

How is finite experience possible ? How is know- 
ledge of any sort possible ? How did it begin ? — 
that is. What constitutes a finite being ? (Paradox 
of the infinite and finite.) 

Why does the universe exist, and how ? 

What is the basis of moral obligation ? 

Does man possess freedom of will ? 

Is man an immortal soul, possessing ultimately 
separate individuality ? 

What is evil ? 

What is the ultimate good ? 

What is the relation of ethical individuals (plural- 
ism) to the one Reality ? (as defined by monism.^) 

Of course the mere statement of these questions 
involves certain uncritical assumptions. But all 
these problems have engaged philosophical inquiry, 

^ See The Will to Believe^ by Professor James. Longmans, Green, 
& Co., 1897. 



1 62 . The Philosophical Ideal 

and they suggest the scope of metaphysical thought. 
Strictly speaking, the only satisfactory statement of 
the problems is the account of their evolution from 
the speculations of Thales to the latest researches of 
the followers of Hegel and the doctrine of evolu- 
tion/ 

In the examination and statement of the great 
questions, the ideal of course is the development of 
a ** philosophy without assumptions." Such a 
system might not at once appeal to the uneducated, 
for it would be the result of the most painstaking 
thought. But it should win the immediate assent of 
reason since, like the proposition, two and two are 
four, it would contain its own verification. That 
is, one would not need to look beyond the state- 
ments presented for their justification. It would be 
truly ultimate description stich that every man, in 
his right mind, by taking four units would find their 
sum to be four. In other words, life critically and 
appreciatively observed would be found like the 
description of it. 

That which would qualify anyone to accept such 
a statement as, two and two are four, would of 
course be a certain amount of experience in regard 
to other combinations of figures, and the conviction 

^ The reader is more likely to be interested at first in a statement 
of the modern problems as propounded by Royce i^The Spirit of 
Modern Philosophy)^ Falckenberg {History of Modern Philosophy), 
Paulsen {Introduction to Philosophy), than in the larger histories by 
Erdmann and Ueberweg, or a severely technical treatise like the 
Critique of Pure Reason or Appearance and Reality, 



The Philosophical Ideal 163 

that reason is capable of discerning the meaning of 
experience and arriving at truth. If one is not yet 
convinced that the mind can reason correctly, it is 
futile to set forth even the most accurately logical de- 
ductions. When Xenophanes, for example, declares 
that the Best can only be One, he who is in posses- 
sion of reason and the belief in its validity sees at 
once that this statement is universally and eter- 
nally true ; otherwise language could have no definite 
meaning. It is the essence of the philosophical 
method to give unqualified assent to a proposition 
only when all propositions opposed to it are seen 
to be false. And a time comes in mental develop- 
ment when certain statements at once appeal to the 
mind as axiomatic. For example, the statement 
that a straight line is the shortest between two 
points. 

The path of the philosopher is necessarily beset 
by every possible obstacle with which a human 
soul can contend yet achieve ultimate success. He 
must know error in all its forms, that he may by 
contrast know truth. He must have adequate 
knowledge of all classes of facts, so that severally 
and through their relations they shall be completely 
intelligible. Philosophy may therefore be defined 
as an adequate account of the nature of things in 
the light of their laws and their total relations, both 
the Being and the Becoming, the Real and the 
Apparent. 

The philosopher is never in haste to arrive at de- 
cisions. He lives in eternity, not in time, and is 



164 The Philosophical Ideal 

willing to set apart many years for the solution of a 
single problem. His own eagerness would defeat 
his object if he permitted himself to hurry. When 
he is on the verge of a positive result, he must im- 
mediately call a halt by asking, Is there an alter- 
native ? Is there not some other way of regarding 
this question ? Have I developed all the logical 
implications of my premises ? Is my fundamental 
premise sound ? Has a different point of view been 
maintained in the past ? 

The philosopher's method must therefore be its 
own corrective. Each advance should be accom- 
panied by a corresponding development of scepti- 
cism. The latest conclusion must be as closely 
scrutinised as the first. ** Exposition is often im- 
position." One is likely to become unduly interested 
in endlessly subtle complexities, to maintain a cer- 
tain point of view for mere argument's sake, or 
because it furnishes material for an essay. There is 
also danger that one may create unreal difficulties, or 
dwell at length on a mere lifeless abstraction, such 
as the ** Unknowable," the '' Ding-an-Sich,'* It is 
also easy to fall into anthropomorphism, to forget 
that, although the chief value of a system of phi- 
losophy is often the natural history of the intellect 
that develops and expounds it, the intellect may 
stand in its own light. 

The world is slow to recognise the value of this 
philosophical sincerity and painstaking criticism. 
Usually it is misunderstood and condemned as 
negative or iconoclastic. As a rule, people care 



The Philosophical Ideal 165 

more for those teachers who appeal to their credul- 
ity than for those who inspire thought. People like 
to believe, to gather about those who deal in ready- 
made convictions. Consequently, the truth-seeker 
is condemned because he does not speak out con- 
vincingly. He is charged with '* threshing his oats 
in public," when, as matter of fact, he has already 
thought too deeply to ally himself with any particu- 
lar theory. But Socrates was the wisest of Greeks 
because he knew and said that he knew nothing. 

It is the superficial teacher who deals only in con- 
victions, never in doubts; who tells what God is and 
all about life and the soul. He who has truly begun 
to philosophise knows that all our knowledge is 
hypothetical. We are proceeding on certain highly 
probable assumptions, and taking the rest on faith, 
in the belief that the universe will not prove disap- 
pointing. 

The little child can ask questions which the wisest 
of us cannot answer. We may hazard an answer. 
But it is usually a mere ;r, a skilful formula to con- 
ceal ignorance. In reality, all our knowledge, even 
our philosophy, is still relative: we know only so 
far as individual reason has penetrated. Beyond 
our present life and thought, in other conditions or 
on other planets, what do we know ? Even the idea 
of God, varying from age to age, is man's attempt 
to describe a reality corresponding to his highest 
emotion and thought. While man believes his 
thought of God to be an infallible revelation, he 
deceives himself and deceives others. When he 



1 66 The Philosophical Ideal 

learns that it is not God, but a statement of his 
consciousness in search of God, he then frankly con- 
fesses his ignorance, and the growth of real wisdom 
begins. 

Since all revelation, all experience, necessarily 
partakes of the limitations of the recipient, it should 
be put forth only for what it is worth. All general- 
isations concerning experience should be understood 
as describing that experience in so far as we now see 
it. Consequently, the wise man says : So far as I 
have observed, this is the way it seems, this appears 
highly probable. I will therefore adopt this hypo- 
thesis tentatively, but hold myself open to an entire 
change of view. Thus the experimental attitude 
must be paramount until philosophy has discovered 
the last datum. 

There are numberless illusions which hold sway 
for a time. If, for example, I am suffering from 
disease, and experiment with various drugs, all of 
which fail until suddenly I regain my health, my 
conclusion naturally is that the drug healed me. 
But it may be a mere coincidence that I take just 
this drug simultaneously with nature's restoration 
of my body. Or it may appear that a hypnotist, a 
faith healer, or a mental healer has cured me. Yet 
all this may be illusory, for my own faith or auto- 
suggestion may have been the real agent. Perhaps 
some spirit healed me. Perhaps my excess had run 
itself out. Who knows positively ? 

Even if I could absolutely know in a given case, 
it would not follow that all cases are to be described 



The Philosophical Ideal 167 

by the same theory. Fresh investigation must ac- 
company every new experience. The number of 
possibilities is enormously large. We may think we 
possess the truth, when there are a thousand aspects 
of the case which we have never considered. 

The history of thought shows that doubt has 
played as important a part in the development of 
exact philosophy as belief itself. Indeed, thorough- 
going philosophy began when men began to doubt. 
The majority are credulous : it is doubt which guards 
the main pathway to truth. What is most needed, 
especially in the pulpit, is frankness, a sincere con- 
fession of opinion. Instead, we have hundreds of 
ministers who are preaching one set of ideas and 
believing another. Why not come out and confess 
that one no longer believes the old theology, that 
philosophical doubts are too strong ? Surely there 
is rich compensation in the adoption of the experi- 
mental point of view, and the discovery of the deep 
significance of natural evolution. 

But, if you expose your doubts in public, you may 
create doubters. What of that ? Doubt implies 
that one is dissatisfied and is in search of a larger 
philosophy. Progress begins when men begin to 
doubt conventional standards and to launch out for 
themselves. Pushed far enough, doubt leads to 
deeper and broader conviction. The great men of 
science are those who, like Darwin, were not con- 
vinced until they were compelled by an enormous 
accumulation of evidence. The science of evolution 
has advanced year by year, since the publication of 



1 68 The Philosophical Ideal 

The Origin of Species in 1859, because the students 
of evolution have dared and are daring to propose 
questions which Darwin's theory did not fully 
answer. 

With all these considerations in mind, we may 
now define the philosophical method analytically 
and didactically as follows : 

Seek first facts, reasons, causes. Hypotheses are 
only needed temporarily to eke out facts, or as first 
steps in the scientific method. 

Do not assume premises : give evidence for every 
statement. 

Think accurately, moderately, exhaustively. 

Follow reason rather than preconception, wherever 
it leads. 

Use no word whose meaning is not perfectly clear 
to the average philosophical reader. 

Define accurately when necessary. 

Ignore no facts. Be open-minded, on the alert 
for new evidence. 

Use language which cannot be mistaken. 

Make no statement for which you could not, if 
questioned, give an adequate reason ; none on 
authority. 

*' Give unqualified assent to no propositions but 
those the truth of which is so clear and distinct that 
they cannot be doubted." 

Be content only with the most rational, the best 
provisional, the most accurate statements which our 
limited knowledge permits us to make. 

Do not be eager to explain facts according to 



The Philosophical Ideal 169 

some preconceived theory, but willingly sacrifice 
the theory. 

Avoid the confusion of your point of view with 
the fact which you wish to interpret. 

** Unless you refute your opponent at his best 
you are refuted by him." 

Understand clearly that the materialist, the ideal- 
ist, the theologian, and the man of science mean one 
and the same Substance, the Spirit, the Life of all, 
whether they term it matter, *' Infinite Self," 
'* God," or ** force," and you will no longer be 
intolerantly troubled by the divergence of their 
opinions, but seek the truth in all. 

Professor Lovering once said that the reason why 
people no longer believe the corpuscular theory is 
because those who held it have died off. A sug- 
gestive remark. 

Suppose a man living in the tenth century were to 
say to another, ** I htow the earth is the centre of 
the universe." He might feel perfectly sure he 
was right, for the reason that he was not yet open 
to a wider view. Many love hypothesis rather than 
truth, because truth is so far beyond them. If the 
intuition of one age becomes the reason of the next, 
and the superstition of the third, then either it was 
not genuine intuition, or it was only a partial state- 
ment of truth. It follows that either our intuitions 
are not intuitions at all, and we are not able to dis- 
tinguish between inclination, theory, reason, and 
insight, or they are glimpses of truth through the 
thick veil of ignorance. 



lyo The Philosophical Ideal 

It is the special privilege of the childhood of the 
world to rejoice, to build air castles, to have great 
hopes, to have firm convictions. But it is the task 
of intellectual manhood to analyse these very hopes, 
and even to doubt them. We are inclined to hold 
fast to our childish dreams. The religious world 
has scarcely passed through this stage. Yet the 
philosopher tells us that we do not know until we 
have tested our visions. 

Yet there is a sense in which we should cling to 
our deepest hopes : until we prove them to be false. 
But we must make sure of three points: (i) that we 
love truth more than any statement of it ; (2) that 
we are open to growth through experience, reason, 
and intuition; (3) that we are not holding some- 
thing to be true for which we have no evidence. 

Above all, then, be concrete ; cling fast to prac- 
tical evidence. Remember that art comes first, in 
the natural order of things, then science. Therefore, 
seek first life, experience ; then the meaning of your 
experience. Live deeply, then think philosophic- 
ally. 

The philosophical temper or attitude of mind has 
seldom been better suggested, at least so far as its 
superiority to circumstance is concerned, than in 
these words from AmieV s Journal'^ : 

** There is but one thing needful — to possess God. 
All our senses, all our powers of mind and soul, all 
our external resources, are so many ways of ap- 
proaching the divinity, so many ways of tasting and 

^ Translated by Mrs. Humphry Ward. Macmillan, 1893. 



The Philosophical Ideal 171 

of adoring God. We must learn to detach ourselves 
from all that is capable of being lost, to bind our- 
selves absolutely only to what is absolute and eter- 
nal, and to enjoy the rest as a loan, a usufruct. 
. . . Let come what will — even death. Only 
be at peace with self, live in the presence of God, 
in communion with him, and leave the guidance of 
existence to those universal powers against whom 
thou canst do nothing! If death gives me time so 
much the better. If its summons is near, so much 
the better still ; if a half-death overtake me, still so 
much the better, for so the path of success is closed 
to me only that I may find opening before me the 
path of heroism, of moral greatness and resignation. 
Every life has its potentiality of greatness, and as 
it is impossible to be outside God, the best is con- 
sciously to dwell in him." 

In fine, then, the philosophical attitude is notable 
for two striking characteristics. The philosopher is 
free, unattached, ready to move from place to place 
wherever truth may lead and without regard to pre- 
dilections, personal desires and doctrines ; and he is 
a critic. No one must be as free, yet no one must 
be so persistently, fundamentally critical. He must 
be the sceptic of sceptics, discovering the errors, 
illusions, and subtleties which escape all other men. 
It is not for him to rest in settled convictions, nor in 
the belief that existence is an enigma. He must be 
continually investigating until he at least finds out 
what may be known and what cannot be known. 
He must move forward with evolution, yet see to it 



172 The Philosophical Ideal 

that the wisdom of the past is not neglected. He 
must therefore live with the ages ; at the same time 
no one should understand the present more thor- 
oughly than he. His is the privilege to be universal 
while all other men are specialists. Thus his ideal 
is the acme of all intellectual and spiritual education, 
and training in philosophy is the best discipline 
which the entire educational world affords. The 
broader his life, the profounder his intellect, the 
richer his spiritual experience, the more is he capable 
of realising his high ideal. Although deprived of 
many opportunities for service, none must have so 
great a heart, none must more truly lead the life of 
the Spirit ; and there is rich compensation in the fact 
that he may inspire thousands of workers, that the 
work of the thinker is the most fundamental, in a 
sense the most original work in a generation. He 
who is accounted worthy of this ideal is in fact most 
fortunate of men. Fortunate, too, that man who 
has at least dedicated his life to it, who aspires to 
that divine communion which makes possible the 
interpretation of God to man. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CRITERIA OF TRUTH 

One has little confidence in the truth of his own view who is not 
willing for a moment to entertain a different one. — W. M. Salter. 

THE goal of philosophical inquiry having been 
defined as ultimate, reasoned truth about the 
total universe, adequate interpretation of life, such 
that the severest facts, for example, the darkest 
problems of social evil, shall be intelligibly ex- 
plained, the next step is the adoption of a criterion 
which shall show that truth is truth when we find 
it, despite the possibilities of error. 

When, however, we ask. What shall be the cri- 
terion ? we at once meet a serious difficulty. No 
test of truth has been agreed upon even by the few 
profoundest philosophers. The inconceivability of 
the opposite has been proposed by some. But a 
philosopher might some time conceive of the oppo- 
site. A thorough-going scientific man has been 
known to reject what was proved fact to thousands, 
because his particular and limited theory of the 
universe did not permit him even to conceive of its 
possibility. We have noted all along in this volume 
that life is an experiment, subject to the unexpected 

173 



1 74 The Criteria of Truth 

appearance of entirely new combinations of events, 
both mental and physical. 

Self-consistency is another accepted test/ Yet al- 
though Reality must surely be self-consistent, also 
the system which adequately describes it, no thinker 
has yet been able to rise to the plane of this far-reach- 
ing consistency and avoid in his statements the obvi- 
ously inconsistent. Systems which do justice to the 
self-consistency of the whole, as such, fail to do equal 
justice to the parts. On the other hand, pluralistic 
systems fall equally short of attaining satisfactory un- 
ity. Every philosopher believes that the total whole 
is somehow one, but the problem of the one and the 
many — the ultimate relation of free, finite, ethical 
individuals to the Supreme Spirit — is still unsolved. 
The spiritual vision perceives this diversity in unity 
as an organically perfect whole, but the intellect is 
not yet able to rationalise all that the spirit sees. 

Objective evidence has been proposed. But that 
meets the demands of the realist only, and realism 
has been again and again refuted.* Subjective evi- 
dence is the criterion of some, but obviously both 
objective and subjective demands must be met. It 
is hard to refute some forms of subjectivism. But 
no philosophic task is easier than to riddle the 
claims of mysticism. On the face of it, the mystic's 
subjective claim is illogical and finite ; he mistakes 
his own spiritual emotion for the great whole ; he 

^ See Bradley, Appearance and Reality, p. 136. 
^ See Royce, The World and the Individual, Lecture III. Mac- 
inillan, & Co., 1900. 



The Criteria of Truth 1 75 

overlooks ethical distinctions and the ultimate sig- 
nificance of individuality. 

In India, philosophy has always been inseparable 
from religion, and has lacked that " critical consider- 
ation of reason by itself, ' ' which, as Windleband tells 
us, is the very essence of philosophy as defined by 
Kant. It has always delighted in just those explan- 
ations (which, like niayay do not explain) which 
the Western thinker seeks to eliminate. While, 
therefore, Oriental contemplation has a lesson to 
teach, it is sure never to satisfy the demands of 
Occidental reason. 

Agnosticism is only a halting-place in philosophy : 
it satisfies neither the head nor the heart. No lover 
of philosophic wisdom is likely to rest content with 
the mere, unresolved data of the special sciences. 
And theology has long ago forfeited its right to 
furnish a criterion.' 

** The unanimous consensus of the competent " 
has been strongly urged as the necessary criterion,'' 
and doubtless this is the criterion of the special 
sciences. It is very generally recognised that an 
observer must not rest content with his own experi- 
ments and conclusions alone, but submit them to 
comparative tests. But when it comes to philosophy, 
Who is to decide upon the competent ? That which 
is undesirable in a special science, namely, individual 

^ For an able discussion of other criteria, see Professor James, 
The Will to Believe, pp. 63-110. 

2F. E. Abbot, Scientific Theism, 1888 ; The Way Out of Agnos- 
ticism, 1890. Little, Brown, & Co., Boston. 



1 76 The Criteria of Truth 

bias, is oftentimes the very life of philosophy. It 
is the philosopher's duty to develop his tempera- 
mental insight to the full. Philosophers still differ 
so radically that there are no competent. If 
there were such a body, it would need a critic of its 
methods and results, who would himself stand in 
need of a moderator. And so to the end of time 
a larger criterion would be needed than the mere 
consensus of the competent. 

At the same time it is worth while to follow this 
method as far as possible, as thus succinctly stated by 
Dr. Abbot, in his address before the World's Parlia- 
ment of Religions : 

** (i) Individual observation of facts; (2) individual 
hypothesis to explain them ; (3) individual verifica- 
tion of this hypothesis by fresh observation; (4) 
universal observation through publication of the 
individual's results; (5) universal hypothesis through 
modification of these results by criticism ; (6) univer- 
sal verification of the modified hypothesis attested 
by the consensus of the competent." 

Recently, a sect has appeared in America which 
assumes that the metaphysical point of view is 
synonymous with its practical doctrine, — the phi- 
losophy of mental healing. And so the term ** new 
metaphysics " has come colloquially to mean simply 
a system of therapeutics and practical idealism. 
This is obviously an inaccurate use of terms. All 
practical idealism is of course included in the meta- 
physical world, but all the data of the wide universe 
are also included. To select a specific application 



The Criteria of Truth 177 

and call that " the metaphysical point of view " is 
like choosing the French language and calling that 
the linguistic point of view. Other members of the 
Indo-European group have a right to be heard, the 
Semitic branch of the Aryan family, the agglutinated 
and monosyllabic tongues, etc. 

What the problems of metaphysics or philosophy 
are, we have already noted in the foregoing chapter. 
It is clear from these that this science of sciences is 
primarily theoretical ; it deals with the universe as a 
whole as compared with any specific science which, 
hke geology, is confined to one branch of knowledge 
simply. A mere geologist or a mere mental healer 
is not a philosopher, for a philosopher is wholly 
non-partisan. Philosophy is knowledge of the uni- 
verse for its own sake. Strictly speaking, it has al- 
ways been abstract, metaphysical. With Hegel, for 
example, it was the science of the absolute consid- 
ered in the light of its logical evolution. However 
far its practical application may be carried, there will 
always be a demand for a science which goes yet 
farther and impartially considers the abstract result. 

The disciple of the ** new metaphysics," for 
example, looks only for the good. It is his occupa- 
tion to emphasise the positive, or optimistic side in 
order to persuade the mind to discard its false be- 
liefs. And this is no doubt a practical necessity. 
But for the thorough-going philosopher the truth in 
pessimism must be as gladly welcomed as the truth 
in optimism. He cannot, as metaphysician, ignore 
facts because by so doing he may heal somebody. 



1 78 The Criteria of Truth 

He must read the story of life as it is, omitting no 
chapter. When the time comes to live his philos- 
ophy, his practical idealism will be untrue unless it 
can affirm its ideals despite the darkest facts, thus 
winning the supreme triumph of philosophic insight. 
This is, of course, the ideal which the " new meta- 
physics " is seeking to realise. 

Yet having now insisted on the demands of pure 
metaphysics as truth for its own sake, regardless of 
its practical value, it is time to recognise the sug- 
gestive fact that the practical motive has always 
been a starting-point for the philosophical good. 
F. C. S. Schiller is the most strenuous chronicler of 
this fact in his very valuable Riddles of the Sphinx.^ 
Windleband points out that philosophy was known 
even in Greek times as ** the practical meaning of 
an art of life, based upon scientific principles," the 
striving after virtue, and the rational pursuit of hap- 
piness (Epicurus). The philosophical motive has, 
in fact, widely varied, being sometimes naturalistic, 
sometimes sceptical, again pertaining wholly to the 
inner life or to logical deduction. It still remains 
true, however, that a philosopher is not genuinely 
such unless he is willing to pass beyond these incep- 
tive motives to the universal ideal of metaphysical 
truth for its own sake. One who, like Lewes,^ 
writes two volumes to prove that philosophy is im- 
possible is no philosopher. 

^ Swann, Sonnenschein, & Co., 1891. 

"^ Biographical History of Philosophy, revised edition. Appleton, 

1888. 



The Criteria of Truth 1 79 

It needs no further argument, then, to show that 
philosophy takes us into the wide world of the uni- 
versal. Philosophical truth must fulfil all rational 
criteria, all demands which may be made upon it. 
It must not only explain life, or show conclusively 
why life cannot be explained, it must not only be 
consistent and meet both the demands of our inner 
nature and the rationalised data of physical sense, 
but be capable of practical application and have 
something to say concerning the future and the 
conception of immortality. As embracing not 
merely epistemology, cosmology, and psychology, 
but ethics and the bases of religion,^ it must be a 
practical clue to the meaning of life for every in- 
dividual. It ought to appeal both to the head and 
to the heart, telling me not only what is true, but 
what is beautiful and good. 

Such is the ideal, and as high as it may be, it is 
evident that philosophical truth will never be found 
unless the demand for it be conscientiously rigorous. 
From this point of view, the objection to religious 
creeds and theories founded on insight alone, is the 
claim they make to have solved the riddle of the 
universe. If you raise intellectual objections they 
will either assure you that these things cannot be 
understood by the reason, and therefore the in- 
tellect is forever inferior, or they will dismiss the 
whole problem by some dogmatic reply. Their 

^ It is clear from the arguments of Professor Royce in The World 
and the Individual that theology must henceforth rest on a meta- 
physical conception of Reality. 



i8o The Criteria of Truth 

advocates are not content to throw light on the 
points which their specialty illumines, frankly say- 
ing, ** Beyond this we do not know." They offer 
ignorance-concealing formulas which assume to be 
universal solvents, as if a poor answer were better 
than sincerity. The genuine philosopher would say, 
** The future history of philosophy is the only 
authority capable of answering that question." 

If we have only hopes to offer, let us therefore 
frankly confess it, and not pretend to know, for 
philosophy brooks no dogmatism. If, as Huxley 
once admitted, our most assured scientific results 
are only hypotheses of a highly probable character, 
then publish this fact universally. If the world 
owns possibilities, chances, do not talk knowingly 
about fate. Let your " x " be known as such, and 
if you are an agnostic do not parade as a gnostic. 

In philosophy, any man's thought is instructive 
who will sincerely and logically maintain a point of 
view, even if it be subversive of ethics, for example, 
the precept, ** all is good." Such a point of view is 
instructive because it brings into bold relief the 
ethical criteria of right and wrong, because it is un- 
true to the facts of organic evolution. Yet the 
moment the advocate of such a doctrine begins to 
dogmatise, to assume some occult point of view from 
which all is said to be absolutely good, philosophical 
discussion necessarily ceases.^ 

^ For really philosophical theories of ethics, consult such works as 
Martineau, Types of Ethical Theory (Macmillan, 1891) ; Green, 
Prolegomena to Ethics (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1890). 



The Criteria of Truth i8i 

The failure of many metaphysicians to make a 
successful application of their speculations about 
life is doubtless due to this dogmatic clinging to an 
absolute point of view — in face of the fact that all 
our knowledge is concrete and relative. It is cus- 
tomary with theorists of this class to start with an 
artificially devised premise concerning absolute per- 
fection, then, declaring that naught else exists, turn 
to the world of struggle and sorrow, and term it a 
" shadow," or the ** absence of light." Conse- 
quently, it is a logical procedure to develop a system 
of abstract afifirmations in order to disabuse the mind 
of its illusions, to declare that they are *' errors" 
having no power. 

The concrete philosopher begins with this present 
evolving world as he finds it, then asks what sort of 
Reality must exist in order to give rise to just this 
struggling mass of beings and things. The better 
he knows the world, the more knowledge he has of 
its laws, its evolution, and its ideals, the greater will 
be his knowledge of its logical cause. Only as he 
proceeds directly from the facts of the world back 
to the Cause immediately behind or within them 
can he hope to develop a sound theory of Reality. 
He knows nothing about Reality as an undifferenti- 
ated mass, a shoreless ocean of undisturbed peace. 
For him the cause of things is active in precisely 
these present conflicts through which humanity is 
being perfected. He knows Spirit only as accom- 
plishing somewhat, as welling into manifestation 
through the rock, the unicellular organism, the 



1 82 The Criteria of Truth 

vegetable and animal kingdoms, civilisation, intel- 
lect, morality, art, education, religion, service, the 
Christ. Of Spirit unmanifested, at rest, or apart 
from force, feeling, thought, he has no conception 
and needs none. Spirit for him is simply the life of 
all that lives, the power active in all force, physical, 
mental, moral, and spiritual. 

Of perfection he therefore knows only what the 
present life reveals, both as actually accomplished 
and as prophetically revealed in human conscious- 
ness. He describes Spirit as occupied in working 
out high ideals of harmony or beauty through all 
the ills we suffer, the errors we think, and the 
triumphs we win. He reasons that Spirit must 
know and be actively present in all this, since other- 
wise there would be no divine consciousness at all, 
nothing to do, no reason to exist. 

When in search of a practical remedy, he there- 
fore turns, not to an imaginary realm of supercon- 
scious abstraction to seek divine oneness in a vague, 
general way. Knowing that the Father is active in 
his aches and pains, he seeks to remove the obstacle 
in mind and body, that harmony may be attained. 
He seeks co-operative adjustment with the divine 
activity in the disturbed region. He thinks back 
of that to its cause, turning his consciousness from 
the painful sensation to the ideal which the Father 
is realising there, the ideal of health or harmony. 
Thus his thinking is concrete from start to finish. 
Thus does he justify more and more the practical 
criterion as one of the necessary tests of truth. 



The Criteria of Truth 183 

Ordinarily, however, one seldom meets those who 
so faithfully combine two of our accepted criteria — 
consistency and practicality. The majority with 
whom one discusses these matters seem to allege as 
excuse " We will not count this time: this is the 
exception that proves the rule." The same incon- 
sistency is found among nations. In times of peace, 
disarmament and other fine ideals are discussed, but 
in war time martial law permits what would on other 
occasions be deemed a crime. Christianity incul=> 
cates non-resistance, but this rule is only occasion- 
ally applied. 

Let us, however, examine for a moment the 
credentials of consistency. One might generalise 
thus : Every statement must be immediately quali- 
fied by its exceptions. But if this generalisation be 
true, this statement has no exceptions. Once 
more, therefore, it is the exception which proves 
the rule. 

Of what value, then, is a rule if it have excep- 
tions ? It is of value in so far as we know the 
exceptions. The rule applies to one set of condi- 
tions only. The exceptions hold only under 
changed conditions. 

To illustrate, take the rule, ** Resist not evil." 
It is argued that the principle is valueless unless it 
be absolute. But consider how much depends on 
the definition of evil, and the theory concerning its 
origin and meaning. Evidently, the rule is to apply 
only under certain conditions, and we must first un- 
derstand the conditions before we can apply the rule 



1 84 The Criteria of Truth 

There may be times when it is wisest to let the 
thief take the cloak also. But is it wise to let the 
evils of society pass and make no effort to overcome 
them ? ** Overcome evil with good," the rule goes 
on to say. In other words, it is a question of what 
motive to obey. There is a right and a wrong way 
of resisting evil. We must discriminate between 
our impulses, now obeying, now inhibiting. We 
are not called upon impassively to accept all that 
comes, complacently declaring that " Whatever is, 
is right." We must always resist something. It is 
only a question of what. 

And so our moral consistency is dependent upon 
knowledge of the conditions under which now this 
motive is to rule and now that. Generally speaking, 
it may be wrong to tell a lie. But conditions are 
conceivable under which it might be justifiable to 
tell a lie to save a life. For instance, in order to 
rescue an innocent person from a would-be murderer. 
In this case moral consistency lies in fidelity to the 
greater good. It would be immoral to tell the 
truth, alleging as excuse that truth-telling is an 
absolute rule. It would be perfectly moral to tell 
a lie. 

Nature offers precisely such illustrations of seem- 
ing inconsistency amidst consistency. The apple 
obeys gravity and falls, provided only that some- 
one does not tie it on or pick it from the tree. Ice 
melts, but only under certain conditions of tem- 
perature. Action and reaction are equal, but an 
unforeseen factor may enter in to mar a planned 



The Criteria of Truth 185 

result. The law is as true as ever. The modified 
result springing from an intervening cause is an ad- 
ditional proof of it. 

Cautious philosophical consistency therefore says : 
" This is truth for me to-day, but I may have more 
light to-morrow, in which case I shall doubtless be 
compelled to modify my views; for I value truth 
more than a fixed creed, or consistency purchased 
at the expense of progress. If it be a choice be- 
tween consistency of statement and fidelity to truth, 
I choose the latter form of consistency." 

Obey your rule where it applies, follow your logic 
as far as it specifically leads, but remember that all 
specific logic, every rule, is relative. When you 
reach a limit ask, What is next ? What is needed 
to supply the deficiencies ? If you find that a rule 
which, like ** all is good," sets out to be moral and 
logically winks at immorality, is inadequate, seek 
the rule which modifies and supplements it. If you 
discover that a theory, like pantheism, logically and 
universally carried out denies existence to one half 
of life, seek the truth in it by comparison with other 
demands of reason and the heart, supply the missing 
half. If you find this chapter dry and technical, 
remember the more spiritual portions of our discus- 
sion, and so supplement intellect by the Spirit. 

In the end, our philosophy must be broad enough 
to include and harmonise all inadequacies, seeming 
inconsistencies, and paradoxes. If they cannot as 
yet be united as one whole, they should be held 
in experimental solution. Empiricism, even the 



1 86 The Criteria of Truth 

radical empiricism of Professor James/ is always 
preferable to dogmatic or artificial monism, the as- 
sumption that " all is one " without rational evi- 
dence for this basic statement. 

The philosopher delights in the construction of a 
theoretically perfect system of metaphysics — which 
convinces only himself. But as surely as meta- 
physics originated in the two-fold motive of truth 
for its own sake and truth for the sake of utility, so 
surely must the practical tendency be the critic of 
the speculative. The chief point of this chapter is 
that no wholly sound, merely speculative system of 
philosophy is possible. All speculative metaphysics 
must be supplemented by the higher spiritual in- 
sights and spontaneous experiences of the soul. 

It has been argued again and again that reason is 
the only test of truth. But one may prove anything 
by argument and make it reasonable. Your logic 
may prove an event impossible : the next moment 
you may experience that which was declared impos- 
sible. I once heard the president of a university 
** prove " that thought transference could not pos- 
sibly occur ! 

Common sense long ago adopted experience as a 
test of truth. In deepest truth, we know a principle 
to be sound only when we have applied it in actual 
life. Out of the concrete, all the data of reason 
have come; to the concrete, reason must again and 
again be applied to see if it adequately describes. 
Experience contradicts, verifies, or modifies and 

1 The Will to Believe. 



The Criteria of Truth 187 

enlarges reason; reason must interpret and test 
experience. 

It has been assumed that intuition infallibly, or by 
some occult law of inspiration or revelation, tells us 
what is truth. But we have already noted that no 
revelation is so pure that it is not defiled by the 
relativity and state of development of the medium 
through which it comes. What is to eliminate these 
defilements but further experience tested by reason ? 
What alleged revelation has ever been accepted as 
entirely true, or consistent, even by ** the consensus 
of the competent " ? The theologians of one school 
may deem themselves competent. But what of the 
thousand other sects whose leaders can also quote 
scripture ? 

A revelation is true only for the man who proves 
it in his own life, and then only true for him. No 
other can see it precisely as he does, because no 
other man has had precisely his experience. In this 
profound fact we have found the chief reason why 
the elective system should prevail in education, why 
every man should make it his supreme purpose in 
life individually to discover and manifest the Spirit. 

If you ask a person whose life is ruled by intui- 
tion for an experimental test, somehow the faculty 
fails to act just then : it functions spontaneously. 
Again and again we hear such people say that prob- 
ably they were mistaken this time, or that self crept 
in and marred the result. Somehow the revelations 
of different seers do not harmonise. Obviously, 
there is no faculty in the human being whether 



1 88 The Criteria of Truth 

intuition, reason, or conscience, which, upon com- 
mand, always and unmistakably tells us what is right 
or true. In the last analysis, we must reserve a 
place for that transcendent spiritual experience 
which no power of self-consciousness can control, 
and to which no writer has ever done justice. 

The co-operation of all our faculties guided, 
tested, and enlarged by many-sided, progressive ex- 
perience can alone answer Pilate's question, " What 
is truth ? " Even then it is open to the sceptic of 
sceptics to doubt whether our empirical constitution 
really corresponds to the reality of things. Such a 
one may at last say only ** I believe it does," or 
** This is probably the truth." 

It is philosophically justifiable to disbelieve as 
long as one can. ** All will to believe is reason to 
doubt ... all desire to doubt is reason to be- 
lieve," says R^cejac in his admirable essay on mystic 
symbolism.' Sometimes it seems as if we must 
for ever continue in search of truth, but never find 
it. ** Ever not quite." Ever hypothesis, experi- 
ment, result ; fresh observation, modified hypothesis, 
fresh experiment, new result, pointing to further 
modification ad infinitum. Such is at once the fate 
and the delight of the philosophical game. 

We expect to understand experience. But we 
know only through contrast, and at present we can- 
not transcend experience to find somewhat with 
which to contrast it, although psychical research is 

* Bases of Mystic Knowledge, translated by S. C. Upton. Scrib- 
ners, 1899. 



The Criteria of Truth 189 

fast learning the secrets of peering — not into im- 
mortality — but the next realm of spiritual existence. 

We ask to know what nature is, in itself, but how 
is this possible when we know it only as it affects 
our consciousness ? In the future state we shall 
probably know it in a manner sufficiently unlike our 
present mode of sense perception to afford instruc- 
tive contrasts. But we shall still know it through 
the media of finite consciousness. 

We seek the meaning of all facts, but it is diffi- 
cult to settle upon a fact ; for evidence that might 
suit one class of observers would very likely fail to 
convince another class. If all that exists is inter- 
related, universal knowledge is required to interpret 
one atom, or one idea, as Tennyson has poetically 
suggested in his " Flower in the crannied wall." 

Again, one of our criteria demands that objections 
shall be raised as long as rationally possible, but 
how many are really competent to raise objections 
to a system of metaphysics ? Surely, those only 
who have reflected their temperaments to ultimate 
self-knowledge. But this is a progressive task, and 
the varieties of temperaments may not yet be ex- 
hausted. Who is great enough to transcend and 
unify all temperaments ? God, do you say ? But 
it is man who demands to know all truth. Even 
the belief in absolute divine truth is an altar to an 
unknown god, for each individual owns a distinctive 
point of view which, as such, must always be his 
own possession.^ 

^ I have argued this in Voices of Freedom^ chapter vi. 



I90 The Criteria of Truth 

Some philosophers aim to be rigidly scientific. 
But where are the higher sentiments which leap be- 
yond exact thought ? Is not the higher a part of 
life, and must we not live it in order to know it ? 

Have we disproved the possibility of philosophy 
by this long enumeration of difficulties ? Not at all. 
The difficulties are not as great as they appear at first 
sight. No result is valueless to philosophy, even 
the attempt to be an absolute sceptic. The philoso- 
pher learns as much from failure as from success, and 
acute analysis of the limitations of human knowledge 
throws as much positive light on our present prob- 
lem as it does upon the mystery of pain and evil. 

Some students of philosophy expect to prove too 
much. The young enthusiast thinks he can prove 
the existence of God. How is this possible if God 
is the basis of existence itself, and therefore involved 
in the very premise with which our logic begins ? 
The utmost the mind can do is to give reasons for 
believing in God, after his existence has been stated 
or discovered. In other words, his existence is one 
of those necessary presuppositions which philosophy 
can only justify and render intelligible; just as at 
the outset of this volume we discovered that we 
must start with the universe as a gift of experience, 
an ** enigma," if you will, but at the same time an 
intelligible system whose laws and evolution man 
can understand. 

We are unable to prove our existence, for we 
already exist when we start to prove it. We cannot 
show how the universe came to be, since we are 



The Criteria of Truth 191 

unable to transcend the fact of its present existence 
as a complex mass of forces whose energy is per- 
petually conserved. ** How there comes to be 
existence as all," says Professor Seth/ and how 
existence in its basal characteristics comes to be 
what it is — these are questions which, so far as one 
can see, omniscience itself would not enable us to 
answer." We cannot, then, as Hume has shown, 
know true causality. So far as we can see. Being 
with its universe — some universe — is eternal. Ex- 
perience is probably the result of an existence which 
could be experienced were we able to transcend 
finite life and become infinite; for ** that without 
which experience is impossible, cannot be the result 
of experience, though it must never be applied be- 
yond the limits of possible experience." ^ 

Yet again, what we fully are, as souls, we do not 
know, because we are unable to transcend ourselves 
as parts (which we clearly are) and grasp ourselves 
from the point of view of that which includes us. 
Nor can we look beyond our moral natures to ascer- 
tain how far, or to prove that we are really free. 
We must start with the fact that we are morally 
free, since otherwise life would have no meaning, 
and ethics would be impossible.^ Our great resource 
is always to ask what life is now, what is the wisdom 
of the situation, and what life may become through 
the righteous conduct of men. 

^ Mans Place in the Cosmos^ p. 163. 

^ Max Muller's Kanfs Critique of Pure Reason, xlvi. 

^ Voices of Freedom, chapters iii. and iv. 



192 The Criteria of Truth 

Thus the horizon clears when we understand the 
nature of our problem. While we look at the prob- 
lem only in a negative way, complaining that we 
cannot logically prove the existence of God, nor 
explain how the first beginning (there was no such 
beginning) began, the philosophical prospect seems 
exceedingly dubious. But when we learn that there 
is somewhat which transcends proof, we are in a 
position to develop an all-round system. Then, for 
the first time, the spontaneous revelations within 
the individual soul begin to assume due importance. 

We should, therefore, always remember to distin- 
guish between ideas which (i) must be taken as gifts 
of experience, such as Reality, freedom, the soul, 
immortality, experience ; and (2) ideas susceptible of 
logical and experiential proof. A closed system of 
philosophy in which every proposition shall be 
proved is obviously impossible. But a system in 
which every idea shall be made rationally intel- 
ligible is, however, within the limits not only of the 
possible but of the probable. 

While, then, we ought always to continue our in- 
vestigations and rigorously apply the tests of truth, 
doing our utmost both to avoid error and to keep 
open minds, we should at the same time remember 
these necessary limitations. As we shall see in the 
next chapter, it is our limitations which enable us 
to do our work as organic parts of the universe. 
These limitations once understood, we find ourselves 
in a position to begin in earnest the great work of 
realising the philosophical ideal. What at one time 



The Criteria of Truth 193 

seemed to be an insuperable difficulty proves to be 
of positive value when seen in its true light. 

Taking a glance over the whole field, we may 
sum up the criteria of truth as follows : Philosophic 
truth in its ultimate sense is self-consistent, but this 
self-consistency often lies far below the surface 
which it apparently contradicts. It meets the 
reasonable, mutually supplementary demands of 
realism and idealism, the head and the heart, intel- 
lect and intuition, and is at once valuable for its 
own sake and because of its utility. Reason is its 
most useful criterion, yet experience is its most im- 
portant corrective. It must never overlook the most 
distinctive revelations of individuality, yet must be 
equally faithful to the universal. It is an organic 
totality to which all phases of thought and life con- 
tribute their share ; in its pursuit every man must 
give play to the highest side of his nature. It is 
progressive, and can only be progressively revealed. 
It is eternal and may, happily, for ever be sought 
without permitting itself to be fully grasped. 

While we are engaged in the long process of de- 
veloping a universal system, there is one criterion 
which is always to be kept closely in sight : phi- 
losophy ought always to benefit conduct. Reality 
is what we feel, not merely what we think about. 
" If we were purely thinking beings," says F. C. S. 
Schiller, ' * [agnosticism] would obviously be the right 
attitude toward matters unknown. But as we have 
also to act, and as action requires practical certainty 

. . . no agnostic can live for five minutes without 
13 



194 The Criteria of Truth 

indulging in acts involving a belief or disbelief in 
some of the unknowables he had solemnly for- 
sworn." ^ 

** Beliefs are rules for action," says Professor 
James/ ** and the whole function of thinking is but 
one step in the production of habits of action. 
. . . What exact thing do you practically mean 
by * One,' when you call the universe One ? is the 
first question you must ask. In what ways does the 
oneness come home to your own personal life ? 
How can you act differently toward a universe 
which is one ? " 

The answer to this question we have been con- 
sidering throughout these pages. It is the fully 
educated, spiritual, social life, of equanimity yet of 
service, of self-control yet of self-expression, which 
is the real justification of a profound belief in life's 
unity. On the other hand, it is just this richly 
practical life which furnishes the choicest data of 
progressively constructive philosophy. 

All this, you say, presupposes much knowledge, 
and implies that one is deeply in earnest, willing to 
work long and patiently, and that one already pos- 
sesses a general knowledge of philosophic thought. 
Yet the whole matter is surprisingly simple. In 
each of us is the clue to life's profoundest mystery. 
That which we seek to know is not something out- 
side of us. No power can come to us from without 
and declare the truth. It must be perceived in one's 

^ Riddles of the Sphinx. 

^ Philosophical Conceptions a,n4 Practical Results, 



The Criteria of Truth 195 

own mind. Each of us has had experience, and that 
is enough. The essential is to see it in right rela- 
tions. 

The utmost another mind may do for you is to 
narrate its experiences in the same search. And 
the reason why some have advanced so much be- 
yond others is that instead of attending many 
lectures and reading many books, they have selected 
a few fundamental principles and thought upon them 
day and night to some individual philosophical con- 
clusion. Such minds will give you in a few words 
the very essence of their system of practical meta- 
physics. For example, Jesus* saying, ** Seek first 
the kingdom of heaven . . . and all these 
things shall be added unto you." If you under- 
stand and adopt this ideal, nothing more is needed 
but to live it. 

One is constantly overwhelmed by the magnitude 
of one's task in the endeavour to grasp life's mean- 
ing. Yet, after all, it is the one task that calls out 
all that is in us. To know the goodness which 
dwells within, to live it in daily life, then rationalise 
it, this is the sum and substance of it all. A thou- 
sand theories of the universe may be formulated by 
as many minds; a thousand poets may sing of life 
as it appeals to them, and innumerable species, 
forms, forces, and substances may reveal the creat- 
ive power. But there is only one object of it all, 
one source of it all, one Spirit imbuing it all. To 
know this Spirit in all the variety of life's changing 
experiences, this is the simplicity of thought. To 



196 The Criteria of Truth 

carry this consciousness into every hour of daily toil, 
this is the essence of righteous conduct. And to ap- 
peal directly to this one source in moments of doubt 
and pain, this is the one panacea not only for all 
trouble, but for all the difficulties of philosophy. 



CHAPTER XIII 

ORGANIC PERFECTION 

The great Idea baffles wit, 
Language falters under it. 



— Emerson. 



FEW facts are of greater significance in the inter- 
pretation of the universe than the discovery 
that the higher forms of life are organic. That is, 
the physical being is not a mere aggregation of pre- 
cisely similar parts; it is composed of differing 
organs or members whose functions mutually con- 
tribute to the well-being and development of the 
whole. No part is adequate by itself. No part is 
independent. The existence of each is made pos- 
sible through the co-presence and activity of all the 
other parts. The whole is a society of related in- 
dividuals, whose utility as well as whose beauty is 
dependent upon limitation and co-operation. 

This familiar truth is unquestionably the most 
direct clue to the constitution and meaning of the 
highest orders of life : the mental, moral, social, and 
spiritual. Its significance is perfectly clear, so far 
as our physical existence is concerned. But we are 
apt to neglect the bearing of this profound discovery 

197 



198 Organic Perfection 

upon the problems which perplex us in our endeav- 
ours to grasp the right relationship between in- 
dividuals ; we do not realise the light it throws upon 
our obscure contests with life, upon our personal 
struggles, and the problems of evil and injustice. 
In this chapter I shall therefore accept the guidance 
which this truth offers, develop its implications, and 
seek its aid in solving the enigmas of our social life. 
From the outset of our inquiry, this organic rela- 
tionship of mutually dependent parts has been the 
implied basis both of education and philosophy. 
Every domain of evolution teaches this great truth, 
without which our modern belief in the unity of 
things would be impossible. Education is utterly 
inadequate unless it find harmonious opportunities 
not merely for self-expression but for service, not 
alone for beauty and truth but for utility; and that 
many-sided variety which counteracts the tendencies 
of the specialist, the intellect, and the emotions. 
Philosophy is not a merely accidental assemblage of 
the facts of the world ; it is an organic unity of all 
known data both rationally and spiritually inter- 
preted. The great lesson of our study of the criteria 
of truth is that each criterion is relative and must be 
qualified by the results of all the others. The results 
of philosophy were found to be negative only while 
one criterion was employed ; it is the constructive 
result of many contributions, imperfect in them- 
selves, which is alone satisfactory. We frequently 
found it necessary to supplement our intellectual 
discussion by an appeal to spiritual experience. Yet 



Organic Perfection 199 

we discovered many reasons for guarded acceptance 
of a purely intuitive philosophy. Thus balance be- 
tween extremes proved to be the only sound princi- 
ple. Thus the logical outcome of our analysis is a 
synthetic theory of life in which this omnipresent 
principle of adjustment between extremes shall serve 
as clue to the unity and beauty of the whole. 

With this synthetic ideal in view, let us regard 
the entire universe as an organism. By the universe 
I mean literally and inclusively all that exists, not 
only the worlds of nature and of human society, not 
alone the realms of mind and morals ; but also the 
commonwealth of individual souls and the ultimate 
Being or Spirit. Let this great sum total be re- 
garded as the largest organic whole. If it be in 
reality such an organism, that is, a fellowship of 
finite souls; an abiding, sustaining Father; and a 
relatively distinct world of nature, it is such a whole 
because this kind of unity is higher, more beautiful, 
than the mere totality, the absolutely identical 
whole without parts of which pantheism conceives. 

The thought seems a bold one only because we 
are accustomed to deem God sufficient unto him- 
self. But if he be self-adequate, why are we here, 
why is nature here ; how happens it that nature and 
human society are purposive organisms ? If the 
nature of God be fulfilled only through the organ- 
isms which reveal him, he is so far dependent upon 
them, imperfect without them. If dependent, his 
organisms contribute somewhat to his life; if the 
organisms are dependent upon him, he contributes 



200 Organic Perfection 

somewhat to them. Therefore the relation between 
God and these organisms is similar to the relation- 
ship between the minor and major parts of an 
organism, although indescribably greater, infinitely- 
more complex than the relations of any organism 
commonly known to man, and only figuratively 
typified by this imperfect illustration. 

Let us, therefore, start with the proposition that 
nature contributes her share, that man is a necessary 
factor, and that Spirit or God is the essential life and 
source whose being is thus perfectly manifested. 
Spirit would not be ** fair and good " alone. Na- 
ture could not exist by itself. Human life would 
be impossible without both nature and Spirit. All 
these constitute one universe only by being rela- 
tively, organically distinct. Therefore, man and 
God and nature are to be understood only in the 
light of their organic mutuality and relationship, as 
parts of a universal whole which perpetually seeks 
absolute perfection through infinite variety. 

Thus considered, the organic whole is to be under- 
stood only through perfect comprehension of the 
varying relationships of all the parts. Each detail 
in the life of man or nature is related to the history 
of all the other parts within the divine whole. Each 
part is individually defective yet widely contributory, 
perfect only through the perfection of the whole. It 
contributes and is contributed to. It is dependent, 
and it sustains the dependent. Without it the per- 
fect whole could not be, yet it is relatively of little 
consequence. Just as the universal whole would 



Organic Perfection 201 

be fatally maimed by the removal of God or man or 
nature, so would a minor whole be injured by rob- 
bing it of a part or function. 

The glory and utility of any part, like the intel- 
lectual life, or the experiences known as pain and evil, 
consists in its organic limitations. An organ must 
stand for something definite, or it is neither beau- 
tiful nor useful. Viewed by itself, it may seem ugly ; 
viewed in relation, when qualified, held in check and 
supplemented, it is inexpressibly beautiful. 

A man may deem himself utterly unfit to live 
while he regards himself negatively, while he thinks 
of what he is not and what he cannot do. He may 
condemn himself for not being able to do what 
other men do. He may be constantly condemned 
by those who pretend to understand him, because 
he does not accomplish what they think he ought 
to accomplish. Out of his environment he may 
seem cold, sullen, and unsociable. Put him in his 
environment, and he straightway becomes a god. 
That which seemed a hardship now proves to be a 
blessing, because it is seen in right relations. That 
which appeared to be a cruel and ugly limitation is 
now found to be the precise condition of organic 
productibility. 

There is an incalculably valuable lesson in this 
discovery. Nine-tenths of all the negative criticism 
and self-condemnation in the world would cease if 
this knowledge could become universal. 

The necessity of organic limitation may be further 
illustrated by the nature and development of an idea. 



202 Organic Perfection 

We know very well from experience that we make 
no headway in precise thinking while the attention 
wanders. We must concentrate, put all ideas out 
of mind except the one central thought, the apex of 
the pyramid of consciousness, whose broadest rela- 
tionships we propose to master. 

Looked at from the negative side, it is a decided 
limitation that the mind can give entire attention 
to but one idea at a time. From the positive point 
of view, definiteness of comprehension would be 
possible under no other condition. The entire pro- 
cess of mental development is the gathering at a 
central point of all our conscious powers, that the 
mind may grasp and retain a single concept, a par- 
ticular or a general principle. And the conscious 
mind as an organ is supplemented by the subcon- 
scious, which when well trained amply compensates 
for the limitations of active consciousness. 

Every distinct idea is a point of view from which 
we regard our experience for the time being. For 
example, we study the operation of natural forces 
and learn that all are ruled by law. We touch a hot 
substance and the hand is burned. Thereupon the 
mind, summoning all its wisdom from the subcon- 
scious, momentarily rises to the plane of universal 
vision, seizes the great concept of uniform world- 
law, and concludes that everywhere under similar 
conditions similar effects would follow. The mind 
then deduces from this great principle, inductively 
perceived, certain applications for use in daily life. 
It declares that, since action and reaction are equal, 



Organic Perfection 203 

there can be no activity of the particular type in 
question from which we can escape a certain re- 
sult; that consequently we must hold ourselves 
responsible. 

The mind reaches this definite, practical conclu- 
sion by holding the thought in one direction until it 
grasps certain relationshipc as seen from one point 
only. The definite process of thought is possible 
only through exclusion and subordination. It must 
shut out other implications, even at the risk of doing 
them injustice, until it grasps the full significance of 
this. Thus a definite conscious process is the dis- 
covery of a particular series of relations, just as the 
description of a tree is possible only by giving an 
account of its environment, the surrounding earth 
in which it is embedded, the atmosphere which plays 
upon it, the power of gravity which holds it in place 
and maintains its shape, the sunlight without which 
its life and growth are impossible. 

Here is a very important point. One cannot de- 
scribe an object in nature, or even the vaguest fancy 
which a mind ever conceived, as an object apart, 
unrelated. The central thought which the mind 
selects for temporary consideration, to the exclusion 
of all others, is as nearly independent as anything 
can be. Yet it is a central thought only because 
there are grouped about it many other thoughts 
which throw light upon it. And the most abstract 
law which the mind can formulate, the most meta- 
physically abstruse doctrine, is made such only by 
contrast and comparison with the concrete world 



204 Organic Perfection 

of warm, loving, and tender beings and things which 
furnishes the substance of all our thinking. 

The mind could not formulate a law unless there 
were uniformly functioning forces to describe. These 
could not be regular functioning forces unless there 
were something upon which they could act. One 
force alone is inconceivable : force is known only in 
relation to resistance, to opposing forces. One sub- 
stance alone is as inconceivable as one colour, one 
sound, one man or woman. All these are known 
only by contrast, in relation ; in other words, organ- 
ically. 

Even God is known only through what he does, 
what he is in respect to the world which manifests 
his wisdom and power and beauty. Ignorance of 
this obvious fact is responsible for all the extra- 
natural deities, ** Absolutes" and artificial realities 
with which the growth of philosophical thought has 
been encumbered. 

Love is a relation ; it is impossible alone. Wis- 
dom is due to concrete experience ; it is not abstract. 
Beauty is a relation in which things are beheld. An 
emotion is a state felt in regard to somewhat ; the 
mind is incapable of feeling without something to 
feel. And so one might exhaust the universe and 
fail to find a concept small or great which has any 
intelligibility apart from relation ; and relation is of 
course possible only through different organs whose 
qualities are variously associated. 

In the ethical realm, duty is a meaningless term 
without the relationship of the one who imposes the 



Organic Perfection 205 

obligation and the one who disregards or fulfils it. 
No man can be either righteous or unrighteous 
alone. The terms " good " and " bad " possess 
significance only when applied to something, or 
some deed, which does or does not fulfil an ideal 
relation, a purpose. 

It is a related purpose which gives centrality either 
to human life or to the universe at large. Even 
though existence be an enigma so far as its ultimate 
origin is concerned, our own finite reasoning is great 
enough to lead the mind back from the wonderful 
system of nature, which modern science so beauti- 
fully describes, to the purposive harmony which 
necessarily exists as its source. And we know that 
a purpose is possible only through an ideal which is 
to be realised by the adjustment of means to ends. 
It is the obvious presence of a world-purpose, of 
universal adjustments of means to ends, which leads 
the mind to posit the existence of an ultimate Being 
wise enough to be the source of this underlying 
harmony and thereby adapt all organic activities to 
one end. 

The conclusion follows easily enough that the 
universe is not merely a purposive organism of 
mutually dependent contributory parts, but that it 
is adapted to the attainment of the highest perfec- 
tion, the greatest good, not of the greatest number, 
but of the whole. The universe does not exist for 
man alone, nor for nature, nor simply to complete 
the life of God, but for the whole. As so consti- 
tuted, it would seem that it could not be better. 



2o6 Organic Perfection 

Granting that the world-plan includes the solution 
of the social question, the total organism seems to 
be perfect, wholly beautiful, good, and just. One 
would like to say, it is perfect. But, as we have 
already noted in the preceding chapter, adequate 
knowledge is possible only when a thing is done. 
The utmost we can say is that, although we have 
no absolute standard of comparison, the universe 
probably could not be better than it is. 

An ideally perfect adjustment of all means to the 
highest possible end, signifies not only that the 
nature, place, and meaning of any part, however 
small, is to be understood only in the light of its 
temporary relation to the perfect whole at any given 
moment, but that it is also to be seen through the 
perspective of eternity. It means that as all organs, 
functions, and individuals are regarded from the 
point of view of Xhoir progressive fitness as members 
of a whole whose perfection can be attained only 
through entire eternity, many of these ideals are 
likely to be misunderstood if regarded only from 
the standpoint of time, or when viewed by those 
who are ignorant of the profound significance of 
organic perfection. Just as an organ or function is 
insignificant by itself, so that which seems ugly or 
evil when erroneously regarded by itself, in relation 
to its immediate temporal environment, instead of 
in the light of its meaning for the progressing 
whole, may appear beautiful and good when viewed 
in its total eternal, therefore in its true, relation. 
The perspective of eternity is thus the only one 



Organic Perfection 207 

from which our sins and evils are seen in a h'ght 
which reveals their good side : evil is still evil, but 
its existence in an ethical universe is in the long run 
justified by the experience gained in contact and by 
contrast with it. Consequently, there must be a 
general revision of opinions, a reformation both of 
our terminology and our methods, if we are to 
understand the social cosmos in the light of its 
movement towards completion in the eternal whole. 

It follows also that since the perfect ideal is con- 
ceived in eternity and realised in time, we must take 
into account the minute stages and detailed condi- 
tions of natural evolution. That which arouses im- 
patience and condemnation when viewed by itself, 
inspires confidence and admiration when beheld in 
the light of its outcome. 

Since the universe is attaining perfection through 
evolution, and not by an instantaneous process, it 
must be because a higher standard can be realised 
than through a sudden leap into relations of entire 
harmony. Moreover, if absolute perfection were 
instantly attained, the universe would thereafter be 
as cold and motionless, as unprogressive as a marble 
mosaic. The beauty of the Spirit is so great, the 
ideal of universal organic perfection is so high, that 
it requires the relative perfection of all these succes- 
sive moments of eternity to manifest it. The uni- 
verse seems perfect at any given moment when thus 
understood. Yet the moment passes and reveals a 
new beauty, equally great yet different; and the 
universe shall prove to be perfect in the highest 



2o8 Organic Perfection 

sense only on condition that these successive dis- 
plays of the infinite grandeur never cease. 

It is obviously matter of opinion whether the total 
universe reveals progress. We call it progress, in 
our finite speech. We even speak of God as " pro- 
gressing," and doubtless he is, in a sense, if the 
spiritually creative, ethically free republic of human 
souls contribute their share of fresh experiences. 
But this alleged progress might prove to be only an 
endless series of variations played upon the great 
harp of life by means of notes whose essential num- 
ber is eternally the same. In this way the conserva- 
tion of energy would be maintained, yet there would 
be endless room for experiment, for the production 
of novelties unknown even to the Father who, if he 
foreknew all possible combinations and decreed their 
number for all time, would have nothing to gain from 
organic self-manifestation; and this absolute fore- 
ordination would make ethical freedom and in- 
dividual creativeness utterly impossible. 

The independence and beauty of the part must 
not then be lost in, overruled, or absorbed by the 
whole. It adds its fullest measure of beauty and 
productiveness to the whole only by being of rela- 
tive worth in itself. For I am not arguing that it is 
right for a part insubordinately to suffer that the 
whole may be glorified. That would be applying 
to the universe the demand of the modern capitalist 
that the labourer shall be a degraded cog in an 
economic machine, in order that the ideals of the 
trust may be realised. 



Organic Perfection 209 

The part is, sooner or later, to find its full glory, 
adequate self-expression, and complete development 
through the service of its fellow parts ; otherwise the 
universe is unfair and perfection wears a cruel blem- 
ish. It is just because the social problem is not yet 
solved that we cannot say " perfection now is." 

The individual is to be understood in relation to 
the universal, but the universal is also qualified by 
the individual. The temporal is organically related 
to the eternal; the eternal is nothing without the 
temporal. The eternal is made up of the temporal, 
the universal of the individual : there is no absolute- 
in-itself. The temporal retains its specific meaning, 
as for instance, the dates, 1453, 1492, 1876. Like- 
wise, the glory of man is that he is continuously an 
unabsorbed historical individual, as, for example, 
Socrates, Jesus, Shakespeare, Darwin, and those 
who contributed to the evolution and life-work of 
these, without whom, because they were organs 
only, their work would have been impossible. 

From another point of view, the eternal is the 
great unattained. As typical of absolute perfection, 
it is ideally true, but not actually real. It is ever 
the goal which the universe seeks, yet the pleasure 
of the game consists in never making it. It is the 
sword of Damocles which must not fall. If any- 
thing were absolute in itself there could be no 
organic perfection. 

I need not, however, dwell on these general limit- 
ations of organic perfection, since our chief concern 
is to discover how our own limitations make it 



2IO Organic Perfection 

possible both for us to exist and to adjust ourselves 
to one another. The profoundest aspect of the 
universe, viewed as a progressive process, is the 
continuously self-communicating Spirit, active 
through all eternity, yet carrying forward the de- 
tailed life which alone makes possible the adjust- 
ment of all means to ends with the perfection of the 
whole in view. Practically, then, Spirit must be 
regarded as progressing, if not progressive, and the 
individual should adjust himself to the perpetually 
advancing life within all evolution. 

No part can lie outside of the divine activity to 
which all beings are organically related, since it 
might then function against, not for, the whole. It 
follows that no man, no state, no nation, however 
powerful, can ever permanently injure the universe. 
All relative injuries to the social cosmos are, as we 
have seen in Chapter VIII., due to man's ignorance, 
to temporary slavery and the infliction of slavery. 
So far as tendencies in the natural or social cosmos 
are permitted to go off on tangents, it is because 
the experience thus gained can be turned to creative 
account by the Organ of organs whose function it is 
both to carry forward and perfect, and to maintain 
the equilibrium of the universe. 

Man is thus made aware of his limitations by the 
sharp reactions which follow all excesses. All life, 
all education is a discovery of those inevitable con- 
ditions with which, as Emerson tells us, the universe 
is invested, but which ** the unwise seek to dodge." 
Educational experiment followed by philosophical 



Organic Perfection 211 

thought shows man what he can do and what he 
cannot do. For not all things are possible unto 
him : only those which when turned to account by 
the Achiever of all shall not only contribute to the 
best life of the individual, but to the welfare and 
beauty of the whole. Not all things are possible 
even with God — it seems audacious to say it, but 
the universe declares it — because by virtue of his 
goodness and love he is dedicated to those deeds 
which make for righteousness. 

The glory of man consists in doing his individual 
work and in attempting no other. In one direction 
all is clear before him. In all others he is sure, 
sooner or later, to encounter insurmountable ob- 
stacles. For as the universe is constituted so that 
all men shall turn to righteousness at last, the 
Achiever sees to it that something is placed in every 
man's way which will eventually bring him to judg- 
ment, so that, having thought it all out for himself, 
he will see the economy, and finally the wisdom 
and beauty of righteousness. 

The desideratum obviously is that every man 
come to consciousness of his profound relationship 
with Spirit, nature, and humanity; that he realise 
both his dependence upon them, his utter nothing- 
ness without them ; and also their dependence on 
him through that which he and he alone can contri- 
bute. At first sight this mutual dependence seems 
obvious enough ; every-day life proves it. But if it 
were truly recognised the social problem would 
already be solved. 



212 Organic Perfection 

This discovery not only means the knowledge of 
man's relativity, as we have considered it in Chapter 
X., but the understanding of the positive nature and 
worth of individuality in all its relationships. It 
implies so much that it is difficult even to suggest 
it; it is the discovery of a lifetime. Our entire 
history is an account of the manner in which we 
have in part learned this great truth. 

Suffice it that when man really knows himself, he 
learns that deep within his being there is a principle 
of organic unity whereby his life is persistently held 
together as one whole. However varied his exter- 
nal experiences, personal relationships, eccentricities, 
planes of consciousness, and characteristics, more 
or less mutable during a constantly changing life- 
time, he is fundamentally one individual, as the uni- 
verse is always one universe. There is a principle 
of cohesion, a profound harmony of parts, a unity 
which is stronger than the principle of variety which 
characterises its manifold relationships with Spirit, 
man, and nature. The centripetal force is never 
permanently overcome by the centrifugal — that is, 
so far as we have any evidence. 

Some might argue that the universe would be as 
well served if individuality should disintegrate when 
a man's chief work is done. But this would be at 
the expense of one half of our ideal, and if there are 
many planes of existence yet to come man may not 
yet know his chief work. It is unfair to judge by 
the standards of this life only. 

In the profoundest sense, this unity amid variety 



Organic Perfection 213 

which makes each individual for ever and solely him- 
self, is a distinctive point of view from which the 
entire universe is seen, a unique attitude toward 
life, a certain temperamental and peculiar method 
of experiencing and thinking, an intimately private 
freedom, and an emphatically personal mode of 
action. No one in the wide universe is the dupli- 
cate of another. No one can imitate, do the work 
of, or in reality interfere with another. When this 
combination was made, if it ever was made, the 
model was thrown away, and no possible attempt 
at recombining would ever bring about the same 
result. 

When a man learns this greatest of facts in regard 
to his individual life he becomes centred, poised, 
and no longer fears defeat. Any threatened defeat 
now seems utterly absurd. He knows that he is 
grounded in the eternal constitution of things, in- 
separably a part of that Reality beyond which there 
is no other. He is superior to any misfortune, any 
calamity, or supposed enemy, either in space or 
time. Whatever happens, be it death itself, trans- 
portation to any part of the universe, or enforced 
sleep during a thousand years, will find him in 
equanimity, ready to discover its educational value. 

It is therefore a part of the ministry of the Spirit 
for each man to consider in all confidence, yet in 
deepest humility and gratitude, the bearing of his 
individuality upon the work of the universe ; for he 
can contribute nothing greater than that. He 
should regard himself as an organ of the whole, 



214 Organic Perfection 

essential to the whole, so placed that there is 
abundant power and wisdom to enable him to ac- 
complish his work. 

He is to be concerned solely with the regulation 
of his own attitude, the doing of his own work; 
never with the regulation of the attitudes or activities 
of others. As we have repeatedly shown, no man 
can know what another individual ought to do. 
That knowledge is attainable by one soul alone. 

Yet the discovery of the organic meaning of in- 
dividuality is a means to the greater end, organic 
service. Although the individual should not dic- 
tate, every experience which comes into his life 
should have meaning for him in relation to his work 
for the world. It should help to put him in right 
social relations, that he may the more fully express 
the " constructive individuality " which is the high- 
est ideal of education. 

True knowledge of individuality, as we have 
already shown, not only does not lead to mere in- 
dividualism, but indicates that there must be radical 
reform in current individualistic tendencies. 

Previous to the discovery of man's true place in 
life he is cast about by circumstance ; he is burdened 
with fear, is passionate, resentful, jealous, self-pro- 
tective, intolerant, exclusive; in a word, selfish. 
When he knows himself as only he can know, he 
learns that these selfish attitudes are utterly foolish 
expenditures of force. For no one can really injure 
him. No one can pilfer his true wealth. The 
cleverest imitator could never borrow his most 



Organic Perfection 215 

individual ideas. No alleged enemy could possibly 
intrude on his truest rights, or deprive him of his 
real freedom. Every experience, without the least 
exception, must affect him according to his own, 
not another's, state of development and attitude 
towards it. 

Consequently, there is no need of the barriers 
which the individual usually rears about himself. 
His one concern should be to fulfil his true function 
in relation to the whole, to be true to himself. His 
one standard should be, what is right or best for him 
as an organ of the whole : the supreme guidance of 
the Spirit. All else should be subordinate to that. 

To be loyal to the whole, each man must have as 
profound first-hand knowledge of it as possible. 
For, remember, individuality is due to many-sided 
variety in unity. The individual is related to all 
that exists, personal experience with which furnishes 
the occasion for self-manifestation. He must be- 
come truly universal, that he may give adequate 
expression to that in him which completes the 
universal. 

No man can learn his true nature if he dwells 
alone, no man can learn it merely through contact 
with society, among his books, with nature, alone 
with God. He must learn it both within and with- 
out, through solitude and society, the head and the 
heart, even supplementing his days and months of 
diligent search for truth by days and months when 
he becomes passive and lets truth pursue him. 
Only by the balance, the mutual supplementation 



2i6 Organic Perfection 

of all experiences and all thoughts, in all environ- 
ments, seen in all possible perspectives, through all 
that is in him, may he hope to attain either ade- 
quacy of self-knowledge, or adequacy of self-expres- 
sion through service. 

For, as we have repeatedly noted, he can grasp 
only one idea or experience at a time. Now he 
must give play to his spiritual nature, and now 
subject his thought to the most rigidly sceptical 
criteria of truth. Now he must seek solitude, and 
now society. Only the well-balanced man is truly 
spiritual, profoundly philosophical, or thoroughly 
educated. 

The history of man's development, his attempts 
to achieve perfection through hermit methods and 
exclusive creeds, proves by contrast the need of 
many-sidedness, beauty, rounded completion, as the 
only pathway to that fulness of soul-expression in 
which his organic utility consists. The very at- 
tempt to attain " liberation " by ascetic and egoistic 
methods shows how intimately man is related to all 
that exists, to how slight a degree he is independent. 

The many-sidedness of individual consciousness is 
also an illustration of the organic character of our 
existence. 

Since the days of Descartes, it has been customary 
to begin all philosophical inquiry with consciousness 
as the basic fact, the surest datum of experience ; 
and this has practically meant your consciousness 
or mine. As you look within, now, and as I also 
introspect, no fact proves more fundamental. Yet 



Organic Perfection 217 

an examination of the question, How can conscious- 
ness exist ? reveals the great truth that it is neither 
possible nor good alone. It must be consciousness 
of something. It must also be consciousness by a 
self or soul that is conscious. The very life of con- 
sciousness is knowledge of relations, of objects 
which are brought into intimate relation with our 
perceptive organism. 

Furthermore, consciousness is possible only 
through change, activity, life. We cannot dwell 
on one set of relations long at a time. There must 
be external movement as the source of internal 
awareness. Consciousness without life is impos- 
sible. But life is a system of relations. 

In general terms, consciousness is the inner trans- 
lation into the percepts and concepts by which the 
mind pictures or represents the world of relations. 
In other words, consciousness is organic. It is not 
the totality of being, as some have assumed. The 
universe is not a mere world of thought. It is not 
a merely conscious representation, with nothing 
represented. Relations are real. Change is real. 
Evolution is a living fact. It is the function of con- 
sciousness to report what transpires in the real, living 
world of time and space relations. 

Thus a critical examination of what we mean by 
consciousness, leads us step by step out of the sub- 
jective, egoistic world into the world of Spirit, 
nature, and human society, without which even 
the most limited consciousness is impossible. This 
apparently commonplace conclusion is really the 



2i8 Organic Perfection 

refutation of all systems of subjectivism, mysticism, 
and the like. And thus the deepest, subtlest, and 
most troublesome stronghold of egoism is removed. 
The finite self is in truth nothing without conscious- 
ness, but in this one fact resides all the evidence 
needed to develop a philosophy of organic human 
society. 

Without attempting to develop all the logical 
steps, let us simply note that the most suggestive 
series of relationships which make consciousness 
possible is the social series. The very dawning of 
self-consciousness in infancy is closely associated 
with the discovery that other selves exist. The 
individual activity of the soul is, of course, the 
dynamic factor of prime consequence. Without 
the brooding presence of the Spirit no conscious- 
ness is possible. Yet it is the social factor which 
furnishes the occasion, and thus lays the foundation 
of that great indebtedness which every human soul 
owes to mother, father, and the host of associates 
with whose co-operation all its habits are acquired, 
the relation of objects in the surrounding environ- 
ment is learned, language is received as a gift from 
thousands and millions of ancestors, and all the 
foundations are laid for its future education, social 
life, and individual experience. The psychological, 
social, and ethical relations and obligations are so 
many and so great that the mind is overwhelmed 
by them. But it is important to take ample time 
to think them out because of the tremendous in- 
debtedness which the soul is under. The majority 



Organic Perfection 219 

of men require all possible spurs to righteousness, 
and no kind of philosophising leads more directly 
from egoism to altruism than thought about these 
intimate relationships without which one's existence 
as an organism amidst organisms is impossible. It 
leads the mind instinctively to the glad hope that a 
day may come when all men shall awaken to the 
beauties and opportunities of our mutual existence 
as one great social organism. 

Apply the thought to your own life, for a mo- 
ment, and recollect your relationship to parents, 
grandparents, and past generations; to teachers, 
books, friends, associates, possibly to wife or hus- 
band and children, to say nothing of your relation- 
ships with thousands whom you do not know and 
may never see, who labour to produce the commod- 
ities of life, and all that makes existence produc- 
tively and pleasurably possible for you. 

Consider, too, the inferior condition in which the 
majority of people are held through ignorance, 
selfishness, and grinding oppression. Consider by 
contrast the eternal principles of liberty, equality 
and freedom which we have dwelt upon in another 
chapter. All are equal before the eternal law. 
Spiritually speaking, each is directly, organically 
related to the Father, the only inequality being the 
difference in spiritual enlightenment and receptivity. 
Each may draw upon that source to make the ideal 
real. Yet each is dependent upon all, and all must 
know the truths of organic perfection before free- 
dom shall become universal. Consequently, the 



220 Organic Perfection 

great privilege of the enlightened is to quicken to 
consciousness the spirit of freedom, the close rela- 
tionship between soul and soul and the great Over- 
soul. 

The supreme thought, then, worth more than all 
the other points in our argument, is the spiritual 
ideal, the possibility open before every human soul 
of becoming a function of the Spirit, a minister of 
that power and life, that peace and love which 
touches the hearts and feeds the souls of men. He 
that loses his merely individual life shall find it. 
The law of the Christ is the highest law of organic 
perfection, the Christ spirit made social is the su- 
preme triumph of all the powers of evolution. 

Education, viewed from the standpoint of organic 
perfection, thus leads to profound consideration of 
all aspects of ethical and social philosophy. It is the 
application in its noblest sense of the philosophical 
ideal. It is the fruition of the philosopher's broad- 
est thought, quickened and carried forward by the 
spirit of love and sympathy. It applies to the 
whole of life, in its united sense, as the union of 
head and heart, the individual and society, working 
co-operatively to carry out the divine ideal. It 
applies to the passing details of life ; it ends only 
with immortality. And so to the conception of im- 
mortality we must turn, with the hope that that, too, 
shall prove to be a part of our educational life, the 
fruition of our individual and collective ethical and 
spiritual freedom. 



CHAPTER XIV 

IMMORTALITY 
A better life this life concealed. — Browning. 

IN the great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, when 
the hero, Yudhisthira, is asked by Dhama what 
is the most wonderful thing in the world, he replies 
that it is the persistent belief of mankind in their 
own deathlessness, in spite of the fact that every- 
where around they are continually witnessing the 
sorrows and pains of death. And, if he had lived 
in these modern days, the ancient hero might have 
added the arguments and facts of physiology, all of 
which give support to the theory that death ends all. 
The evidence in favour of death may be said to 
have accumulated more rapidly than arguments for 
continued -existence. Yet belief in immortality is 
no less strong — outside of agnostic circles. The 
data of psychical research have been steadily making 
in favour of continued existence, and a huge volume 
of evidence awaits those who are sufficiently un- 
prejudiced to read it. 

I shall not, however, in this chapter consider the 
problem from the point of view of scientific inquiry, 
but from its moral and spiritual side, with the hope 

221 



222 



Immortality 



that the discussion may bring into prominence 
certain aspects of the problem which have been 
neglected in the zeal for psychical research. For 
it is not when we examine the data of external 
spirit manifestation that we approach the problem 
most directly. It is when we turn immediately to 
the soul itself, when we await and interpret its high- 
est inspirations, when the soul's relationship with 
the Father is discovered in the spiritual life. 

The spiritual life is not the result of scientific re- 
search. It does not come by observation. Man 
may consciously lay the foundations for it : he may 
become virtuous, trustful, abounding in repose, in 
peace and love. We have already considered cer- 
tain aspects of it in our study of equanimity. But 
the qualities of the highest spiritual life surpass our 
merely analytical understanding. The Spirit comes 
as the crowning touch, while we go on living the 
noblest life. It chooses and inspires whom it will. 
Its inspirations outstrip the highest flights of self- 
conscious thought. 

The supreme assurance of immortality is the life 
which deserves it, that spirituality which would be 
rudely marred and shattered if immortality were 
untrue. Unless we are one and all fated to be sud- 
denly transported to a heaven of eternal perfection, 
whether we are good or bad — this seems improbable 
from what we know of the moral constitution of 
things — unless we are spiritually immortal despite 
character and conduct, it seems probable that a cer- 
tain kind of life on our part is a better preparation 



Immortality 223 

than any other. Thus considered, immortality is 
the natural, one might almost say the inevitable, 
outcome of the righteous life. All evolution tends 
that way ; that is, all evolution makes for righteous- 
ness. The universe is just. It grants an equal op- 
portunity to each, and has placed every possible aid 
where man may voluntarily accept or reject it. 

Immortality is thus a logical consequence, a ne- 
cessity of the ethical life. Our entire argument for 
organic social perfection fails unless it be clear that 
the compensations and opportunities of the future 
supplement the unjust and unequal conditions under 
which many spend every day and hour of this earth 
life. Unless a future life resolve all these differences 
the universe is unjust. Unless every individual 
some time come to consciousness of his organic 
place in the social cosmos and realise the ideals of 
service, our highest ideals are only myths ; for our 
point of view is strictly universal, it acknowledges 
no partialities or subordinations. 

The future life, then, will undoubtedly be the 
field in which the social problem will first be solved. 
But its solution on earth is the greater ideal, because 
it is undoubtedly far more difficult. The present 
social order is the chief centre of interest, and the 
thought of immortality is of great philosophical 
value only because it furnishes the ethical supple- 
ment needed to complete the organic limitations of 
our present existence. 

But this is an old and familiar argument for im- 
mortality, that the moral order is imperfect without 



224 Immortality 

it ; that it is ethically open to all, otherwise the uni- 
verse is unjust ; and after the arguments of the fore- 
going chapter it needs only a reference here. Since 
all reform begins within and with the individual, the 
important point is not merely to awaken to the 
thought of immortality as an organic, ethical de- 
mand, but as involving a practical, educational, and 
spiritual attitude toward the world of to-day. How- 
ever it be regarded, our conscious attitude has some- 
what to do with the future life ; and whether or not 
the will is in any way finally decisive, it evidently 
possesses the power to postpone or hasten the day 
of the soul's awakening into the fuller existence. 
It seems perfectly normal and right, then, to set 
apart periods for the study of the soul and the prob- 
able conditions of its survival. For we are already, 
here and now, exercising functions which are un^ 
doubtedly to be the foundation of life in the future 
state. By a study of these functions, we may grad- 
ually prepare, then help others to prepare for the 
transition from the lower consciousness to the higher. 
Sooner or later there must be such an awakening, 
and it would be a great boon if it could begin in the 
present life as a part of our closer social relation- 
ship. All changes are the results of evolution; if 
there has not been an awakening in the flesh, it 
must come after the present phase of life has ceased. 
After the transition, many souls are doubtless in a 
dazed condition for months, while the apprentice- 
ship of the majority probably extends through years. 
On the other hand, there are souls now in the flesh 



Immortality 225 

undoubtedly better acquainted with the conditions 
of the next plane of life, than a large percentage of 
those who have already begun to understand their 
new experience. 

What part of our nature is likely to survive, and 
how may we become more conscious of it ? 

Throughout this book we have contended for the 
existence of a spiritual faculty or organ of receptiv- 
ity. In the foregoing chapter we have also found 
evidence for the existence of an unresolvable, in- 
divisible unit, the spiritual ego beneath and owning 
all these complexities of moods and selves which we 
call our conscious and subconscious life. However 
varied the surface, regardless of the conflict of 
selves, at heart each of us is one soul. The prob- 
ability is that, as life becomes more abounding in 
wisdom and repose, this fundamental unity will 
stand out more and more. 

One of the first and profoundest discoveries, when 
we begin really to know ourselves, is this fact of 
spiritual unity. In our thoughtless days of unac- 
quaintance with the soul we seemed to be many 
selves. We were continually cast about, now at the 
mercy of dominating minds, now prisoners of our 
own passions. But, when we began to be at home 
in our mental world, we also began to be centred, 
to be conscious that deep within this confusion of 
selves there is a soul capable not only of controlling 
all passions and conflicting forces, but of holding all 
phases of personality together as one consistent, 
ethical individual. 

IS 



226 Immortality 

One of the essentials in the great work of prepara- 
tion for the future life is therefore the cultivation of 
that kind of thinking, that kind of repose, which 
gives a grasp of the inner life as a unit, as the meet- 
ing point of the various tendencies which make for 
organic perfection, for our highest education. This 
is true concentration, true meditation, as opposed 
to the vague, incautious receptivity which often 
characterises the experience known as " entering 
the silence." We must have centrality if we are 
to have concentration; and centrality means the 
taking up of the loose reins, the conflicting forces, 
and wilful thoughts, that they may know their 
master. 

A certain amount of vague experimentation and 
psychic perplexity is doubtless a necessary introduc- 
tion to this realm of deeper self-mastery. But it is 
advisable to have done with it as soon as possible. 
No soul can serve two masters; and, if one cares 
more for psychic visions, faces, forms, and uncanny 
sensations than for the Spirit, the Spirit will not 
come. One must summon all one's powers of dis- 
cernment, surely all one's common sense, ^ if one is 
to enter where there is so much that is illusory. 
Equally necessary is it to avoid becoming too sub- 
jectively interested in self. For the spiritual life is 
the life of humility, not of egotism, the messenger 
of love, not the prisoner of self; it is beautiful only 
in organic relation. 

^ It is also essential to apply the sceptical criteria of truth which 
we have considered in Chapter XII. 



Immortality 227 

Thus the discrimination between egoism and al- 
truism is one of the essentials of this higher develop- 
ment. It is when I begin to distinguish between 
merely personal motives and inclinations, on the one 
hand, and the higher promptings, on the other, that 
I pass from the superficial, transient self to the cen- 
tralised soul which is fit to survive. I must attain 
that stage of insight where I am no longer hood- 
winked by myself. I must be perfectly honest. I 
must know myself through and through. Out of 
the tendencies thus discovered, I must take firm 
hold of those which express the soul at its best, 
leaving all else to fall into oblivion through lack of 
attention. 

This power of self-command becomes in time the 
basis of a larger spiritual experience. For, when one 
has learned to select the divine promptings from 
among the merely personal, one may substitute the 
higher sources of knowledge for the lower, even in 
regard to matters of minor importance. Under this 
head, as evidence of the soul's existence as an im- 
mortal spirit, functioning independently of matter, 
I class the higher impressions, guidances, spiritual 
insights, intuitions, and the power to communicate 
with other souls at a distance. I do not now refer to 
messages from excarnate souls, although guidance 
may sometimes come in this way, but rather to the 
soul's native ability to obtain knowledge by a quicker 
process than through the physical senses, or by the 
function of reason. Take, for example, the ability 
which many possess to describe the states of mind 



2 28 Immortality 

and body of people at a distance, to find their way 
by spiritual impression in a strange town or country, 
also the power to heal others at a distance through 
a purely spiritual process. All these experiences, 
together with the transference of definite thought to 
a distant soul, and some of the phenomena which 
we have included in our study of the subconscious 
mind, point to the existence of finer senses, of 
quicker and subtler modes of feeling and communi- 
cating. They show that we can in a measure already 
overcome space, that we are only partly aware of 
our greatest powers. 

These dimly perceived experiences and partly 
quickened faculties are doubtless to be our habitual 
modes of perception and activity in our more spirit- 
ual life. These powers grow in proportion as we 
believe in and trust them. By regarding them as 
independently spiritual, we may form a fairly definite 
idea of our future experience, which must be char- 
acterised by a far wider range of information, a 
much freer and easier method of communication be- 
tween souls, and a more efficient and rapid mode of 
action. 

These endeavours to gain knowledge by intuition, 
rather than through the ordinary and slower chan- 
nels, put the mind into the habit of expecting 
spiritual help. Thus the subconscious life is brought 
into play, and greater receptivity is developed. The 
soul also becomes moi:e self-reliant. It discovers 
new resources. It becomes more at home in its 
own inner world, And all this is a preparation for 



Immortality 229 

an existence which is to be continuously maintained 
without the stimulus of physical sensation. 

Therefore make it a rule of life to consult the 
Spirit first of all, on any subject, however trivial, if 
it be something really worth while, especially when 
you wish to know which of two alternatives to choose 
in matters of conscience and the heart, when in need 
of help in times of illness and sorrow. Ask what 
way you shall turn, and wait the impression. Ask 
how things are to be. Ask what is right, what is as 
opposed to what seems, or as contrasted with mere 
theory, and so try to learn directly from the realities 
of life instead of by the devious methods of conven- 
tional inquiry and speculation. 

Another mode of discovering the real nature of 
the soul and its probable future state is to take care- 
ful note of the conditions under which the highest 
inspirations come, also to note the superior character 
of these guidances. 

In the still, deeply peaceful hours of the soul, one 
experiences a freedom, an extension of the sphere 
of feeling and thought, which is of itself sufficient 
evidence to many minds that the soul already dwells 
in eternity. One passes, as it were, into another 
world, a purer, happier, larger world. The thought 
is drawn away from the mere moment to the con- 
templation of great wholes or masses of time. It is 
drawn away from any particular region of space. 
It feels at one with the universe. It is in close 
touch with the heart of things. 

One is convinced that this experience, although 



230 Immortality 

brief, and as yet far beyond the will to control, is 
nevertheless nearer the real experience, nearest the 
dreamless life. From this temporary point of view, 
our daily experience seems only a dream, an experi- 
ence beset with manifold illusions and imprisoning 
conditions, a phase of existence which the soul must 
pass through, so that, by thus dreaming and evolv- 
ing, by becoming unselfish and true, it may know 
and value the spiritual life, and cleave to that for- 
evermore. 

If this be so, if ours is the dream life and that the 
reality, there is every reason to cultivate these hours 
of reposeful contemplation, that we may draw power 
thence, and gradually win our freedom from the 
sense life, at the same time turning this power to 
practical account in the expression and ministry of 
the Spirit. 

Oh, what a great, inexpressibly profound and 
beautiful truth it is that here and now we are deni- 
zens of a spiritual world, that we live in eternity, 
intimately and for ever in the immediate presence of 
the eternal Spirit, the great All-Father ! 

Let us pause for a moment to realise the meaning 
of this supreme truth ; for from the present point of 
view it is the first essential, the surest approach to 
genuine knowledge of the soul, the best preparation 
for our freer life. 

First, this real world of Spirit and the soul, al- 
though organically related to it, is in a sense superior 
to the bondages of the time-world. We are not to 
think of the immortal world as a realm where we 



Immortality 231 

may have successive incarnations. All that is 
secondary, and is another subject. The soul gains 
experience and expresses itself through the world of 
time, possibly in more than one physical existence. 
But in itself, as we are now considering it, it is above 
time, in a limitless world where one is not under 
compulsion to meet an appointment or catch a 
train. In itself the soul is an individual manifesta- 
tion of the eternal Father. In this, the Father's 
timeless world, the source and ruler of all lesser 
realms of being, there is peace, uninterrupted love, 
entire restfulness. 

Let us not forget this its most helpful aspect. 
Its power, its peace, is like food whereof we may 
eat. Its love and beauty are spiritual elements 
which the soul may assimilate and manifest. Its 
atmosphere we may breathe and absorb, expanding 
while we dwell in its sacred precincts, becoming 
more hopeful, more in earnest, more loving and 
sympathetic. We may lay aside our burdens, put 
away our problems, for the time being, and so find 
rest from all striving, rest and peace for the soul. 

Yet higher still, highest of all, most beautiful and 
most abounding in peace, although the most diffi- 
cult to suggest, is that sublime presence, that en- 
folding love, that sustaining peace which we call 
Spirit. The Father is literally and truly present. 
No bounds and no barriers separate him from the 
soul. Oh, the joy of that ineffable communion, the 
deep, calm, abiding joy! What repose is ours in 
the love which sustains us, what guidance, what 



232 Immortality 

insight, what strength ! The universe seems at our 
command. All powers and orders of being are 
centralised where we abide. The soul listens, peers 
far forward and out over the surface of things, is 
given an instant's glimpse of the organisation which 
holds all things and beings together, then with- 
draws to its problems and its undeveloped lower 
life, that it may carry those problems and that life 
a stage farther in the outward manifestation of 
these sublime insights. 

Henceforth, the soul really knows that the Spirit 
exists, that there is a spiritual world where individ- 
ual souls eternally dwell. There is no need of argu- 
ment. The usual discussions and manifestations of 
spiritism seem low and foreign in the extreme. 
That is direct, central, sure ; these are derived, 
superficial, more or less subject to doubt. While 
the vision lasts, all is perfectly clear. It is only 
when the vision ceases that the realisation of it 
seems difficult, the evidences of it wholly intangible, 
its interpretation to others almost impossible. 

Personal preparation for the future life is, how- 
ever, only one aspect of our doctrine. Two or more 
congenial souls may attain a high level together. 
There is a higher law of love than the Jove of the 
flesh. It is the discovery, while we are still on 
earth, of the soul's affinity, which draws together 
those who live on the same plane, regardless of space. 

Souls that really know each other here, those 
whose love has conquered the flesh, so that it is the 
spiritual presence, not the body, which comforts 



Immortality 233 

and cheers, need not be separated by the change 
miscalled death. This mutual attainment of the 
soul-plane is surely a greater accomplishment than 
to attain it alone. It makes spirituality social. It 
proves it to be still a part of the total, many-sided 
human life which makes for organic perfection. It 
is the mastery over the exclusiveness which some- 
times characterises the attitude of seekers after the 
spiritual life. And what a noble ideal, what possi- 
bilities of mutual helpfulness and happiness it sug- 
gests, this transcendence of the flesh, where soul 
knows soul, where it feels and loves and is felt and 
loved by the fellow-soul ! 

Yet must we stop here ? May not our range of 
soul affinities be extended, so that we shall hold 
communion with many of those nearest us who have 
gone forward to the freer life ? From the point of 
view of a spiritual philosophy of life, there is surely 
no reason why souls should not return. If the soul 
is the real centre of power and possesses finer senses, 
a percipient and active spiritual organism which it 
bears away with it when it leaves this life, it must 
be able to act upon and to express itself to other 
souls far more successfully than when here. Of 
course, one must allow time for the transition and 
for adjustment to a new environment. But, that 
granted, why should not these freer souls make their 
thoughts and feelings known through the perceptive 
organisms of those still in the flesh, not through 
mediumship, but by direct transfer of thought and 
spiritual power ? 



234 Immortality 

If this can be done, the critic asks why such mes- 
sages are not frequently received ? The answer, 
already suggested in a previous chapter, is that it is 
probably easy for the freed soul to send out its 
thought or spirit, but very difficult for those in the 
flesh to perceive it. We are too active. We are 
still absorbed in our dream life ; and it is difficult 
for outside thoughts to find an entrance, although 
it is very probable that many thoughts are uncon- 
sciously received from this source. Again, it is very 
difficult to distinguish between a real spiritual mes- 
sage and our own expectation or suggestion. 

I once carried on a series of telepathic experi- 
ments with a young man of marked psychic power. 
For a while the results were very satisfactory ; and 
we not only transmitted thoughts, but also distinct 
mental pictures, such as faces of people whom we 
knew. But after a time our minds became so ac- 
customed to these particular experiments that, 
despite our wills, the mind would quickly suggest 
some thought or picture before it could receive 
thoughts from the other mind. We found it almost 
impossible to maintain entire receptivity, even for a 
moment, so ready was the mind to anticipate the 
familiar experiments. 

And so, in regard to real messages from our 
friends who have gone beyond. The mind tends to 
simulate them, and make receptivity very difficult 
of attainment. If one seems to feel a spiritual pres- 
ence, a cool breath upon the brow, or if one appar- 
ently beholds a face in the darkness, it is very easy 



Immortality 235 

to make it speak, and so deceive one's self. The 
earnest investigator must be on his guard to avoid 
these subtle illusions. 

Owing to these difficulties, it is better, as a rule, 
to leave all advances for the free or excarnate soul. 
It is inadvisable to call our friends back. They 
have their duties and occupations, and we should 
grant them full liberty. At the same time it is 
rational to believe that they can come to us if neces- 
sary. 

It is well for sensitively organised souls to avoid 
reaching out to or thinking much of the next phase 
of existence. All these things will come in due time 
if we are moderate in our development. The diffi- 
culty usually is that we are too eager. 

There is another reason for limiting these experi- 
ences; namely, the great thought which is my 
central theme in this chapter, the direct communion 
of the soul with the Spirit. If we devote the larger 
part of our spiritual life to growth in this highest 
direction, these minor phases of life will be rightly 
adjusted. We must choose whom we will serve. 
If the choice falls on this highest spiritual endeavour, 
the soul will surely move most directly toward the 
goal, toward normal, many-sided spiritual develop- 
ment and freedom. 

The question is frequently asked in these days, 
Is bodily immortality possible ? It may be possible, 
but it is doubtful if it be desirable ; for, if the next 
phase of life be freer, richer, more spiritual, why 
should we not enter that life in due course ? 



236 Immortality 

At the same time it is desirable to prolong the 
present existence until we shall have derived the full 
benefit from it. Many people pass out of this life 
because they are killed by powerful drugs. Many 
leave because of their fears, or because in a fit of 
despondency they desire to die. There is positive 
evidence that some at least have the power to. post- 
pone or hasten their going by an act of will. I once 
had an opportunity to observe, during many months, 
a case where death was frequently warded off while 
there was a strong desire to live, but finally hastened 
so that great suffering ensued, when the person in 
question thought the time had come when she 
" might as well die." 

A lady friend informed me that twice in her life 
she had been so ill, and so nearly out of the body, 
that it rested with her to snap a thread, as it were, 
to decide whether the moving to go was stronger 
than the call to stay. 

Again, death might be averted in thousands of 
cases by the right understanding. Those who have 
arrived at the plane of spiritual self-help, and those 
who know what their sensations mean, are able to 
pass through acute experiences which would be 
sufficient to send the untrained soul out of the 
body. If the fears be kept down, and a calm, even 
state of mind be maintained, one can pass through 
almost any experience, and retain one's physical hold 
of life. It is pitiful to think how many pass out of 
this life because of ignorance of these great truths. 

It is also possible to prolong life by studying the 



Immortality 237 

intimate relationship of mind and matter, by learn- 
ing to control the physical forces and the nerves. 
Many physical aids may be called in to assist the 
process of developing and retaining perfect health. 
For example, regular physical exercise, the proper 
care of the body, proper foods, and a simple, pure 
life. It is the rushing, nervous, heated, sensuous 
life that kills. 

I mention these physical methods first, because of 
their value in connection with the spiritual methods ; 
and, second, because they are wofuUy neglected. 
Man lives an animal or nervous life, then complains 
because he is ill and subject to death. He expects 
and hopes to reach old age, yet is unwilling to ob- 
serve the conditions of equanimity and equilibrium 
which render long life possible. He must reform 
his habits if he wishes to be long-lived and healthy. 
He must adopt the ideal of perpetual youth, and 
permit no day to pass without its activity and care 
with that end in view. He must not only keep 
young in spirit, but keep the body young. 

Disease can be wholly overcome ! It rests with 
man to destroy it, if he approaches the problem on 
both its mental and physical sides. Disease once 
mastered, the race can begin a thoroughly healthy 
study of the mind, its powers of controlling the 
physical system and of transmitting thought. The 
healthy mind can then turn toward the spiritual 
world with wonderfully increased psychic power. 

When this purer, wiser phase of life, equanimity, 
mental and physical health, shall be attained, man 



238 Immortality 

will undoubtedly live much longer, perhaps to the 
age of several hundred years. But under these 
conditions his life will become more refined and 
spiritual. He will gradually disappear from the 
eyes of physical man, although still retaining a form ; 
that is, a more refined form. 

It seems rational to believe that the soul has an 
invisible body which is in process of growth even 
while the soul resides in the flesh. If the law of 
evolution applies in the spiritual realm, sufficient 
time must be allowed for the growth of this finer 
body ; and, as the soul does not step suddenly into 
perfect spiritual existence, this development must 
precede the change called death, at least in instances 
where there is some degree of soul-knowledge. 

From the time of the dawning of soul-activity, 
there is evidently a gradual awakening and develop- 
ment of the spiritual life within and superior to the 
physical life. Every fresh spiritual discovery in re- 
gard to ourselves, every spiritual deed, is an advance 
in that direction. Our poise, our self-control, our 
love at its best, is of the soul. If we were wise 
enough, and had conquered all disease, life would 
be a gradual unfolding, like the maturing of a flower, 
so that, when the right time should come, the soul 
would blossom out into the next life unimpeded and 
painlessly. 

Victory over death therefore means the conquer- 
ing of all those conditions by which man brings it 
upon himself, through ignorance, fear, disease, ex- 
cess, and a sensuous life. The victory is progressive : 



Immortality 239 

it begins the moment man transfers his conscious- 
ness from the flesh to the soul. The soul can 
conquer the flesh. As rapidly as it conquers, it 
becomes free. And, as it becomes free, it builds 
about itself a new body, a finer substance, a finer 
mode of vibration in the ether than that called 
material. When it shall have fully conquered, all 
life will be spiritually understood, and what once 
was called death will be seen to be but one among 
thousands of transitions from lower to higher. 
What seems death on a lower plane is seen as birth 
from the higher. There is apparent cessation of 
life only while we are immersed in the process. 
There is only immortality from the point of view 
of the higher law. 

The essential thought, then, is that life is con- 
tinuous, that because of our organic many-sidedness 
we already live in eternity, and need not travel be- 
yond our physical home to find what is real, what 
is enduring, what is worth while. To realise this 
great thought, it is necessary to put the mind 
through a gradual process of transfer of interest and 
consciousness from the transient to the permanent, 
from the outer to the inner, from the visible to the 
invisible. Think of the soul as the life principle, as 
possessing the life. Think of it as a part of the 
timeless, spaceless world where, for all we know, life 
never begins and never ends. Think of it as your 
true self, as that part of you which you really care 
for, as that which you love in other people. Be- 
come more and more superior to time and place. 



240 Immortality 

less annoyed by the happenings and inconveniences 
of the world of place and time. Let it matter less 
and less what you do, so long as it is inspired from 
the soul. And so live in the soul, live from the 
soul, give of your soul, call out the soul in others. 

Disabuse the mind of all thought of death as com- 
monly understood, and look upon the change as an 
external incident. Think of the soul, and rejoice 
in the fuller freedom of the soul of those who have 
passed beyond, thus ridding the mind of the con- 
ventional ideas of sorrow and separation. 

Is this thought of the continuous life sufficient to 
sustain the sorrowing heart, so that it may pass 
through any separation from loved ones, yet main- 
tain its strength ? Yes, this general attitude of 
mind tends to invite the strength which will sustain 
the soul when it is too weak to strengthen itself. 
Nothing is more beautiful than the manifestation of 
the Spirit at the time of the great transition, when 
the thought of all present is that of the continuous 
life. There is an unusual manifestation of the sus- 
taining Presence and Love at such a time. It is one 
of the greatest opportunities for spiritual faith and 
receptivity. It is one of the supreme tests of life. 
The manner in which some enlightened souls have 
met this great experience is, in the opinion of their 
friends, the best evidence of the truth and power of 
their doctrine. 

It is such a test of faith which translates theory 
into practice, mere talk about something into the 
reality itself. The soul bears away a new power. 



Immortality 241 

Henceforth it knows whereof it speaks, and is 
greatly superior in power and sympathy to those 
who are trying to persuade people that all trust can 
be acquired through mere perception, without the 
ministry of suffering. 

It is because of the deep reality of these soul ex- 
periences that I pass by most of the arguments 
against immortality. One cannot prove immortal- 
ity.* The immortal life is the only proof. It is 
less an affair of argument and more an affair of ex- 
perience than most questions. Therefore, I shall 
close this discussion with only a brief consideration 
of the objections from the physical side. 

These objections are one and all based, I take it, 
upon some assumption about reality. Over against 
these physical assumptions I place, as every whit as 
good, the sense of reality of those whose point of 
view is the existence of a spiritual soul. If these 
deepest inner experiences be unreal, it is time to 
question the reality of every experience in life. 

The realities of the inner world have the advant- 
age of being nearer to us. They are affairs of con- 
sciousness, to be sure, but so are all the experiences 
and relations of life, when fundamentally considered ; 
for, in the ultimate analysis, it is all a question of 
differing planes of organic consciousness. 

If, then, the spiritual plane of consciousness is 

^ To some it may seem that spirit manifestations are a proof. But 
psychic communication, if proved, only establishes the fact of con- 
tinued existence ; it does not leap beyond the experimental ideal and 

prove that souls are to live for ever, 
16 



242 Immortality 

the highest, the freest, fullest of happiness and 
peace, we have every reason to cling to that as the 
most real ; and so far as our power of choice may be 
influential, we have the strongest reason for willing 
that the spiritual consciousness shall, if any, be im- 
mortal. 

Some may not desire immortality, and may think 
it burdensome to contemplate untold ages of exist- 
ence. But the healthy mind rejoices in life, and 
wants to live. It is of minor consequence that in 
a few cases the desire is contrary to the deep long- 
ing for continuous existence which many feel. 

From every point of approach we are able to 
guard our belief in immortality, so long as we 
remain true to the highest sentiments of the soul. 
If some are unaware of those experiences, it is 
evidently because they have not yet been quick- 
ened on the spiritual plane. From their point of 
view, our entire mental life is conditioned by its 
accompanying physical phenomena. Immersed in 
the physical brain, and engaged in the study of phy- 
sical states, their thought naturally partakes of their 
occupation. To them thinking is purely a cerebral 
affair. Consequently, they cannot yet conceive of 
the existence of a soul without a cerebrum. 

The question may be asked. Is there any evidence 
that we shall be able to think and to remember 
when the soul has been separated from its physical 
organ of thought ? The evidence is the same that 
I have offered throughout, namely, that in the 
deeper analyses the soul, and not the brain, is found 



Immortality 243 

to be the centre of thought, feeling, and activity. 
The brain is the organ of perception and transmis- 
sion.' It is the soul that perceives, wills, and acts. 

For example, the brain cannot learn to walk or to 
talk. It is the soul of the child which conceives the 
idea of walking or talking. The brain is acted upon, 
and made to acquire the habits which thereafter 
subconsciously regulate the child's walking and 
talking. 

As a wise man has said, it is almost as difficult to 
conceive the existence of the soul in possession of a 
physical brain as to understand how it can live with- 
out it." In any case, it is in part a mystery. In 
view of this fact, that we do not fully know what 
thought is, would it not be a tremendous assump- 
tion to affirm that, when the physical brain dies, all 
thinking must cease ? 

Our future thinking may possess different charac- 
teristics, it is true. When the soul leaves the body, 
it may lose its physical habits, and the feelings as- 
sociated with their performance through the physical 
brain, yet carry with it the power to acquire new 
habits in the spiritual life. Thinking, perceiving, 
and acting are less physical in proportion as they 
are separated from physical movements, and the 
faculties of the soul become active. The physical 
man may think largely with his brain; but the 

^ See Professor James, Human Immortality, p. 15. Houghton, 
Mifflin, & Co., 1898. 

2 Martineau, Endeavors After the Christian Life, p. no. A. U. 
A. edition, Boston, 1888. 



244 Immortality 

spiritual man thinks through and beyond his brain 
until he learns to control it, and transcend physical 
sensation. He depends more and more upon 
spiritual intuition. 

As for memory, if any part of our character sur- 
vives, memory must survive with it. There would 
be a break in the continuity of life and of evolution, 
a dropping back, if the actor survived without re- 
membrance of how he acted as this particular indi- 
vidual. It is when the physical body is out of the 
way, in the dreamless life, that the soul can truly 
perceive what it is and what it has done. It may 
not reason by the slow processes of the flesh-bound 
soul. But the direct vision of things, which is sure 
to come when it begins to be at home in the spiritual 
world, will undoubtedly include all that our intellects 
now know and very much more. A new phase will 
thus be added to our experimental life, and new 
material furnished for philosophical thought. 

Memory is not an affair of cerebral impressions 
alone. It is part and parcel of our nature. Our 
deeds become a part of us : they make us for good 
or ill. By the eternal law of cause and effect we 
cannot escape them. That law must hold true of 
the new life, or it is not a law at all, and is not bind- 
ing even here. We must begin life there where we 
left it here. There are no sudden leaps in evolu- 
tion, except in cases where evolution has prepared 
for them, as in the bursting of the bud, which I 
have compared to the blossoming of the soul. 

In the eternal order of things we stand for what 



Immortality 245 

we are worth as souls. What we are worth as souls 
the future will reveal, by drawing conditions corre- 
sponding to the state of development with which 
we enter the next phase of life. It is the spiritual 
character or consciousness that avails. Conse- 
quently, the desideratum is to come to judgment 
here, that we may honestly know where we stand. 

All may be summarised under the head of spiritual 
consciousness, the knowledge and self-control, the 
love and peace and poise each may possess here and 
now. Thus our doctrine becomes purely practical, 
namely, to live in continual consciousness of the 
soul-life out of which the freer spiritual existence 
shall be in due time developed. It is of more con- 
sequence to live from the soul, to live close to the 
Father, than to exist for ever. This may be a mere 
platitude ; but it is, after all, the most practical as- 
pect of the question, so apt are we to anticipate, to 
pry into the future, when the wise present should 
be our concern. One might almost summarise the 
doctrine by saying, Live deeply enough in the 
present and you shall find immortahty. " The 
eternal life is not the future life," says Amiel: ** it 
is life in harmony with the true order of things, — life 
in God." The deep life of the present is the deep 
life in the Spirit who owns all time. Seek him, 
seek the Spirit, and all that is just and wise will 
follow. If eternal life comes, it will be because the 
Spirit needs us. If it do not come, our career will 
end only when the Father's work through us is done. 
He who is superior to the personal desire for it, who 



246 Immortality 

is willing to lose himself, is most likely to win im- 
mortality, if it is in any sense to be had for the 
winning. 

For it is the Christ-spirit that bringeth eternal life 
to light, and that spirit comes in its fulness only 
when man is most absorbed in the great work of the 
universe and least concerned for himself. In the 
far inward world of the soul, that pure spirit speak- 
eth. It comes to bless. It comes to sustain, to 
inspire, and to restore. He who lowly listens there 
shall hear its gentle messages. He who is faithful 
to these promptings need not give the future an 
anxious thought. Receptivity, trust, and co-opera- 
tion, these are the three essentials from the human 
side. They prepare the way for all that the race 
has need of. They bring all that any man deserves. 

" When my time comes, may I so gently pass 
I shall not stir this life-round wonderful, 
Like flicker of soft wind o'er summer grass 
Or dip of pebble dropped in some deep pool. 

" Lament me not, beloved, shed no tear 
Because of cession of the finite powers ; 
Lay only happy thoughts upon my bier, 

And hope and love, which are immortal flowers. 

" Knowing I have departed not, but thus 
Do but assume a finer medium 
To make a little space more luminous 

For thy dear feet to tread when thou dost come." 



INDEX 



Abbot, F. E., 159, 175, 176 
Abelard, 15 
Absolute, the, 3, 204 
Absolute point of view, the, 181 
Action and reaction, 2, 5, 79-81, 

151, 202 
Addison, 123 
Adjustment, 44, 46, 48, no, 199, 

205, 206 
Affirmation, 44-46 
Age of conceit, the, 100 
Age of reason, the, 95, 100 
Agnosticism, 175, 193 
Allen, T. E., 70 
" All is good," 180, 185 
Amiel, 170, 245 
Among My Books ^ loi 
Among the Forest People, 81 
Anger, 32, 36, 37, 39 
Artist, the, 114, 116, 140 
Aspirations of the World, 103 
Attention, 54, 55, 57, 81, 89,98, 

149, 202 
Attitude, the ideal, 4, 6, g, 24, 

214 

Beauty, 204, 206-208 
Belief, 40, 41 
Berkeley, 102 
Bicyclists, 39-41 
Blood-flow, 37 
Books, 100-103, 145 
Bradley, 158, 159, 174 
Brain, The Abdominal, 32 
Brain, the, 242-244 

Csesar, 104 

California, incident in, 60 



Carpenter, 62 

Causation, 2, 181, 19I 

Child, L. M., 103 

Child, the, 73-92 

Child-Life, 87 

Children, methods of training, 
78-92 

Christ, the, 39, 75, 182, 220, 246 

Christ home, the, 140 

Clarke, J. F., 102, 103 

Clergyman, the, 140 

College, 103-106 

Colour, 144, 145 

Commercialism, 99 

Conceit, 4 ; the age of, 100 

Concentration, 54, 55, 59, 89, 
90» 95, 97, 202, 226 

Conduct, 25, 34, 57, 158, 222 

Conference, summer, 125-127 

Conscience, 188 

Consciousness, 144, 216-218 

Conservation of energy, 208 

Consistency, 6, 183-185 

Copernicus, 18 

Cosmic process, the, 12 

Creation, 20, 115, 146 

Creative life, the, 81 

Creativeness, spiritual, 20, 74- 
77, 82, 85, 89, 94, 96, 102, 
115-118, 208 

Criteria of truth, the, inconceiv- 
ability of the opposite, 173 ; 
self-consistency, 174; objective 
and subjective evidence, 174 ; 
theological, 175 ; unanimous 
consensus, 175-178, 187 ; new 
metaphysical, 1 76-1 78 ; prac- 
tical, 178, 182, 193, 194; ra- 



247 



248 



Index 



Criteria of truth — Continued 
tional, 179, 1S6 ; religious, 
179; concrete, 181; consist- 
ency, 183-185 ; relativity of 
all, 185 ; common-sense, 186 ; 
intuitive, 187 ; experiential, 
187 ; disbelief, 188 ; analysis 
of fact, 189 ; raising of objec- 
tions, i8g ; proof, 190-192; 
summary of, 193 ; results of 
study of, 198 

Damocles, 209 

Darwin, 12, 16, 102, 167, 168, 
209 

Davis, M. S., 78 

Death, 9, 34, 83, 148, 221, 233, 
236-240 

Deceit, 99 

Democracy, 4, 11, 16, 50 

Descartes, 216 

Devil, 151 

Dhama, 221 

Discoveries, 18-20, 30, 32 

Disease, 8, 31, 33, 46, 146, 148, 
166, 237 ; mental theory of, 
39, 40 ; relation to subcon- 
sciousness, 57 ; in childhood, 
79, 80 

Dogmatism, 4, 180 

Doubt, 165, 167 

Dreams, 70 

Drugs, 32, 34, 44, 46, 79, 166, 
236 

Duty, 204 

PMucated man, the, 25, 113, 152 
Education, life and, iii, 3-6, 22, 
26, 220 ; new discoveries and, 
18, 19 ; ideals of, 18-30, 109, 
no; theories of, 19-22, 95; 
intellectual, 20, 2r, 105, 113 ; 
current, 20, 30, 97, 106 ; pur- 
pose of, 21, 22, 25, 26, 94; 
spiritual ideal in, 22, 24, 25, 
30, 32, 52, 73, 109; defined, 
23, 25, III, 113 ; many-sided, 
26, 32, 48, 94, 109, no, 113, 



114, 198, 215, 216; the new, 
27, 73 ; self and, 27, 109 ; 
school system and, 28 ; sub- 
conscious mind and, 28, 30, 
57 ; higher, 29, 103 ; univer- 
sal, 30 ; health and, 31, 46, 52, 
96 ; spiritual atmosphere in, 
38; work and, 46; elective 
system in, 71, 95, 98, 103, 104, 
187 ; the child in, 73 et seq.; 
idealistic methods in, 74, 78, 
80, 85 ; Froebel on, 90, 91 ; 
experimental, 92, 109-111, 
210 ; social ideal and, 94, 109, 
no; German system of, 95, 
96 ; Miinsterberg on, 96, 98 ; 
misfits in, 96 et seq,, 108; 
practical, 97-101 ; high schools 
and, 99, 107 ; soul's awaken- 
ing and, 100-103 ; books and, 
100-103 ; general reading and, 
101-108 ; religion and, 102 ; 
travel and, 103 ; business and, 
103 ; college, 103-106 ; classi- 
cal, 104 ; college preparatory, 
104-107 ; technical, 105 ; in- 
termediate, 106 ; examinations 
and, 106 ; Emerson on, 106, 
107 ; through self-training, 
108 ; imitation in, 108 ; free- 
dom in, 109, 133 ; art and, 
109, 114, 116 ; Jordan on, 
no; Spirit and, ni-114 ; 
highest. III, 114, 226 ; basis 
of, 113, 114; in summer, 125- 
135 ; relativity and, 144 ; so- 
cial problem and, 152 ; phi- 
losophy and, 153, 154, 172; 
culmination of, 172 ; service 
and, 198 ; organic basis of, 
198 ; perfection and, 220; im- 
mortality and, 220 

Educational methods in child- 
hood, 86-92 

Educational value of evil, 151 

Egoism, 218 

Elective system, 73, 95, 98, 
187 



Index 



249 



Emerson, i, 2, loi, 102, 105- 
107, no, 120, 123, 210 

Environment, 45, 49, 50, 94, 96, 
no, 133, 201 

Epicurus, 178 

Equality, ii, 128, 129 

Equanimity, need of, 28 ; hered- 
itary, 29 ; health and, 31 et 
seq. ; as cure, 33 ; power of, 
42, 50, 52, 89 ; dynamic, 47 ; 
attainment of, 47 ; meaning 
of, 48 ; environment and, 49 ; 
subconsciousness and, 56, 72 ; 
dreams and, 71 ; growth of, 
72 ; value of, 194, 213 ; spirit- 
ual life and, 222 ; future life 
and, 237 

Equilibrium, 36, 41, 42, 86, 148, 
236, 237 

Erdmann, 160, 162 

Eternity, 206, 207, 239 

Ethical life, 223 

Ethics, 180 

Euclid, 4 

Evil, origin of, 8, 12, 13, 151 ; 
relativity of knowledge and, 
143-15 1 ; creation and, 146, 
147, 149 ; pain and, 146-152 ; 
perfection and, 147, 150, 151 ; 
goodness and, 148, 151, 207 ; 
contrast and, 148, 149, 207 ; 
progress and, 150 ; thought 
and, 150; education and, 151; 
devil and, 151 ; problem of, 
152 ; justification of, 152 ; 
philosophy and, 154 ; non-re- 
sistance and, 183 ; overcom- 
ing of, 184 ; organism and, 
198, 201 ; nature of, 207 

Evolution, 2, 10-19, 23, 26, 81, 
83, 93,115, 134, 149. 151, 154, 
167, 198, 207, 217 ; education 
and, 74 ; motherhood and, 78 ; 
stages of, 80, 89 ; ixnmortality 
and, 223, 224 

Examinations, 106 

Excess, 33, 44-46, 50, 75, 210 

Existence, i, 190, igi, 205 



Experience, 24, 85, lOO, 145, 
146, 148, 166, 186-188, 190- 
195, 198 
Experimental ideal, 154, 166 
Experimental point of view, 3, 
4. 167 

Fact, 21, 189 

Falckenberg, 162 

Father, the, 6, 23, 83, 84, 140, 
199, 208, 245 

Fatigue, 45, 51 

Fear, 32, 34, 35, 38, 42, 43, 79, 
236, 238 

Fiske, John, 102, 148 

Force, economy of, 44, 45 ; re- 
lativity of, 204 

Freedom, 8, 15, 16, 41, 50, 103, 
129-135, 152, 192, 208, 215, 
230, 235, 240 

French peasant, instance of, 61 

Friends, the, 31, 32, 48 

Froebel, 91, 92 

Galileo, 18 

God, 2, 14, 190, 199 ; origin of, 
84 ; method of, 115 ; idea of, 
165 ; how known, 204 ; the 
whole and, 205 ; progress of, 
208 ; limitations of, 211 

Gordon, F. C., 81 

Government, 131 

Greatness, 117 

Greek, 104 

Green, 180 

Guidance, 8, 65, 109, 229, 231 

Gymnasium system, German, 96 

Habit, 44, 57, 85, 243 

Hall, Stanley, 90 

Hartmann, 158 

Harvard, 103 

Health, 24, 30, 31, 38-41, 46, 
52, 114, 149, 237 ; in child- 
hood, 78-80 

Hegel, 162, 177 

Heredity, 74, 77 

Higher criticism, 18 



250 



Index 



Higher nature, 19, 21, 152 

High school, 99, 107 

Historical spirit, the, 16 

History, 104 

Home, the, 24, 76, 133, 140 

Homer, 104 

Hudson, 53, 67-70 

Hume, 191 

Huxley, 102, 159, 180 

Ideal Motherhood, 78 

Ideals, 3, 18-30,73-92, I12-117, 
220 

Ignorance, 2, 219 

Immortality, experimental, 5 ; 
education and, 220 ; evidences 
against, 221 ; belief in, 221 ; 
psychical research and, 222 ; 
evidences for, 222, 245 ; spirit- 
ual life and, 222, 226, 229, 
231, 245 ; social problem and, 
223 ; ethics and, 223, 224 ; 
preparation for, 224-232, 238 ; 
Spirit and, 230-235, 245 ; re- 
lation to reincarnation, 231 ; 
love and, 232 ; soul affinity in, 
233 ; spirit communion and, 
234, 235 ; physical, 235-238 ; 
the present and, 239, 240, 245 ; 
proof of, 241 ; arguments 
against, 241-244 ; desire for, 
242 ; thinking and, 242-244 ; 
memory and, 244 ; practical, 
245 ; discovery of, 245 ; Christ 
and, 246 

Inconceivability, 173 

Inconsistency, 183 

Individual, the, 15, 17, 22, 107, 
209-211, 215, 223 

Individualism, 16, 94, 109, 214 

Individuality, 20, 22, 23, 94, no, 
131, 133, 150, 193, 212-215 

Induction, 66-68 

Intellect, 113 

Intolerance, 4 

Intuition, 21, 65, 109, 167, 187, 
188, 193, 199, 228 

Involution, 115 



James, Professor, 25, 161, 171, 

186, 194, 243 
Janet, 53 
Jehovah, 13 
Jesus, 209 
Jevons, 67 
Jordan, no 

Journal, keeping a, 102, 106, 120 
Judgment, coming to, 245 

Kant, 158, 160, 175 

Kindergarten, 73, 90-92 ; inci- 
dent in, 83, 91 

Knowledge, kinds of, 159 ; rela- 
tivity of, 3, 141-152, 165, 181, 
187-191 

Labour, 132 

Ladd, 159 

Land, the, 130, 132 

Latin, 104 

Learning, 24 

Le Conte, 102 

Lewes, 102, 178 

Liberty, 23, 129-135 

Life, an enigma, 1-3 ; an ex- 
periment, 3-6 ; the future, 5, 
222 et seq.; progressive, 8 ; 
spiritual, 9, 17, 22, 24 ; new 
attitude towards, 10, 11 ; a 
unit, 13, 16, 194 ; educational, 
23, 26, 154 ; purpose of, 26 ; 
secret of, 46, 65, 175 ; begin- 
nings of, 81 ; inner, 93 ; mean- 
ing of, 194-197 ; organic, 197 ; 
dream, 230 ; continuous, 239, 
240 

Literary methods, 1 19-124 

Love, 34, 37, 38, 48, 75, 76, 84, 
115, 117, 137, 140, 204, 238, 
245 ; in childhood, 78-80, 87 ; 
divine, 142 ; higher law of, 
232, 237 

Lovering, 169 

Lowell, loi, 104, 123 

Lower and higher, 70, 151, 224 

Lower nature, the, 13 

Luther, Martin, 15 



Index 



251 



Macaulay, 100, loi 

Mahabharata, the, 221 

Man, many-sided, 8, 22, 23, 26, 
114 ; evolution and, 12 ; su- 
periority of, 24 ; practical, 25 ; 
the educated, 25, 113, 152 ; an 
epitome, 26 ; the ideal, 26, 74 ; 
the real, 35, 36 ; nature of, 
io8 ; growth of, 117 ; social, 
119 ; limitations of, 150, ig2, 
210 ; glory of, 211 ; death and, 

233 
Manuscripts, 120, 123, 124 
Martineau, 102, 123, 159, 180, 

243 
Meliorism, 14 

Memory, 57, 59, 98, 242-244 
Mental atmosphere, 77 
Mental healing, 39, 40, 176 
Merchant, the, 22 
Metaphysics, 176-178, 186 
Methods of training children, 

78-92 
Mill, 67 
Mind, influence of, 34-41, 52, 

56, 57, 77 ; power of, 39 ; 

dual theory of, 69 ; mystery of, 

117 
Minister, the, 133, 139 
Misfits, 96, 108 
Moderation, 28, 29, 33, 43-46, 

56, 235 
Money, 124, 132 
Monism, 186 
Moody, 10 
Mosso, 37 
Mother, the, 29, 87 
Mother's Ideals, ^,78 
Mozoomdar, 85 
Muller, Max, 191 
Munsterberg, 96, 98 
Music, 112, 113 
Myers, F. W. H., 71 
Mysticism, 21, 174, 218 

Natural law, 16, 84, 89, 90 
Nature, restorative power of, 
42, 43 ; method of, 46 ; beau- 



ties of, 132 ; as an organ, 

200 
Nature studies, 81, 126 
Navigators, 18 
Newspaper business, 99 
Newton, 18 
Nirvana, 147 
Non-resistance, 183 

Objective evidence, 174 
One and the many, the, 174 
Optimism, 29, 37, 89, 157, 158, 

177 
Order, the old, 11 
Organism, 15, 197, 200-202 
Oriental contemplation, 175 
Originality, 115, 140 
Origin of Species, The, 168 

Pain, meaning of, 8, 201 ; remedy 
for, 42 ; serenity and, 48 ; 
subconscious mind and, 56 ; 
in childhood, 79 ; relativity of 
knowledge and, 143-151 ; man 
and, 146 ; creation and, 146- 
149 ; evil and, 146-15 1 ; growth 
and, 147 ; perfection and, 147- 
151 ; fatigue and, 148 ; nature 
of, 148 ; increase of, 149 ; re- 
sponsibility and, 149 ; evolu- 
tion and, 150 ; mystery of, 151 

Pantheism, 185 

Part, the, 208, 209 

Passion, 29, 33 

Paulsen, 162 

Peace, 29, 38, 39, 137, 141, 142, 

245 
Perfection, 3, 6, 13, 27, 46, 147, 
150, 151, 181, 182; organic, 
scope of, 197-199 ; God and, 
199, 200 ; man and, 200, 201, 
211 ; characteristics of, 201- 
205 ; absolute and, 206, 207, 
209 ; eternity and, 206 ; pro- 
gress and, 206-210 ; attain- 
ment of, 207 ; relation to the 
temporal, 209 ; limitations of, 
209 ; Spirit and, 210, 211 ; 



252 



Index 



Perfection — Continued 
individual and, 213, 214 ; ex- 
perience and, 215, 216 ; con- 
sciousness and, 216-218 ; so- 
ciety and, 218, 219 ; Christ 
and, 220 ; education and, 220 ; 
future life and, 226, 233 

Perron, F., 160 

Perversity, 130 

Pessimism, 14, 29, 74, 158, 177 

Philosopher, the, 156, 157, 163, 

171, 172, 177, 180-182, 186, 
190 

Philosopher's instinct, the, 155 
Philosophical ideal, the, 153- 

172, 220 

Philosophical method, the, 163- 

170, 188 
Philosophical motive, the, 178 
Philosophical sincerity, the, 164 
Philosophical system, 160, 192 
Philosophical temper, the, 170, 

171 
Philosophical truth, 179, 193 
Philosophy, of evolution, 10, 19 ; 
world-process and, 12 ; of hu- 
man nature, 26 ; involved in 
education, 26 ; subconscious 
mind and, 65, 66 ; the kinder- 
garten and, go ; relativity of 
knowledge and, 144 ; defined, 
153, 158, 159. 163, 177, 198; 
characteristics of, 154; basis 
of, 154 ; beginning of, 155, 
166; problems of, 155, 160, 
161 ; scope of, 155, 156, 158, 
177, I79» 180 ; essence of, 156; 
exact, 157 ; fundamental, 157 ; 
illustrations of, 157, 158, 163, 
165 ; ultimate, 158, 162 ; Kant 
on, 158, 175 ; Abbot on, 159 ; 
Bradley on, 159 ; Ladd on, 
159 ; Martineau on, 159 ; aim 
of, 160, 177 ; historical, 162 ; 
ideal of, 162 ; difficulties of, 
163, 190, 196 ; method of, 164; 
relativity of, 165 ; doubt in, 
166, 167 ; pluralistic systems 



of, 174 ; in India, 175 ; theo- 
retical, 177 ; attitude of, 177 ; 
practical, 178 ; Greek, 178 ; 
tentative, 180 ; inconsistency 
and, 185 ; logic and, 185 ; 
truth and, 185 ; empiricism in, 
185, 186 ; origin of, 186 ; 
speculative tendencies in, 186 ; 
intuition and, 187 ; experience 
and, 188 ; temperament and, 
189 ; scepticism and, 190 ; pre- 
suppositions of, 190 ; proof 
and, 190; God and, 190; lim- 
itations of, 192 ; sources of, 
194 ; results of, 198 ; spiritual, 
233 

Pianist, 140 

"Po,"6o 

Point of view, the progressive, 
6 ; the new, 10-17, 48, 51 ; 
the relative, 108 

Poise, 8, 28, 32, 41, 42, 45, 46, 
48, 49, 213, 238, 245 ; physi- 
ology of, 32 ; as preventive, 
43 ; defined, 47 ; spiritual, 47 ; 
value of, 78, 80 ; organic, 213 

Prayer, 76, 87, 139 

Prenatal influence, 29, 74-77, 

Preparatory education, 103-107 

Preparatory schools, 97, 107 

Pressure system, the, 28, 89, 106, 
107 

Prevarication, 99 

Progress, 4, 5, 150, 165, 208, 210 

Proof, 190, 192 

Proof-reading, 98 

Proudfoot, 78 

Providence, 10 

Psychical research, 27, 53, 188, 
221, 222 ; proceedings of so- 
ciety for, 53, 71 

Psychic Phenomena^ The Law 
of, 53, 67 

Punctuation, 98 

Punishment, 79, 132 

Quakers, 31 



Index 



253 



Reading, 102 

Readjustment, 4, 49 

Realism, 174 

Reality, 22, 157, 174, 181, 192, 

193, 213, 241, 242 
Reason, 187, 188, 193 
Recejac, 188 

Reform, 11, 14, 129, 152, 224 

Reform movements, 129 

Reincarnation, 76, 231 

Relations, 203-205, 217, 218 

Relativity of knowledge, 3, 141- 
152, 165, 181, 187-191 

Religion, 102, 144 

Responsibility, 149 

Revelation, 165, 166, 187 ; spon- 
taneous, 108, 109, 115, 139 

Rhythm, 32, 41, 45, 56, 71, 148 

Riddles of the Sphinx, 178, 194 

Robinson, Byron, 32 

Royce, 160, 162, 174, 179, 243 

Salvation, 10, 16 

Scenery, 132 

Schiller, 178, 193 

Schofield, 53 

Scholar, the, 22, 114 

Schopenhauer, 159 

Science, 12, 154 ; method of, 

176 
Self, 27 

Self-condemnation, 201 
Self-consciousness, 24, 54, 65, 

69, 76, 93, 114, 116, 140, 194 
Self-consistency, 174, 193, 218 
Self-control, 8, 28, 38, 44, 47, 

50, 78, 79. 94, 107, 194, 226, 

245 
Self-government, 131 
Sensation, 144 
Serenity, 31, 32, 47-51, 138 
Sermon, 139 
Service, 9, 23, 28, 48, 75, 152, 

194, 198, 209, 214, 223 
Seth, Professor, 191 

Sex nature, the, 33, 81, 82 
Shakespeare, loi, 209 
Sin. 10, 88 



Singing, 113, 124, 140 

Social ideal, the, 94, 150 

Socialism, 14, 129 

Social problem, the, 14, 15, 154, 
206, 211, 223 

Society, 17, 20, 93, 133 

Socrates, 165, 209 

Soul, education and, iii, 24 ; ori- 
gin of, 2, 77, 192 ; growth of, 
6 ; defined, 7, 23, 28, 84, 94, 
III, 128; conditions of, 8, 9, 

19, 35, 36, 44, 51, 70, 93, 100, 
114, 137, 218, 229-245 ; rights 
of, 15, 131 ; creative, 20, 75, 
94 ; freedom of, 23, 129 ; ac- 
tive, 36, 46, 54, 84, 218 ; 
power of, 36, 38, 47, 85, 225, 
239 ; force and, 46 ; planes of 
consciousness and, 54, 69-72 ; 
awakening of, 100, 224 ; ex- 
pression of, 102, 109-116, 227, 
245 ; limited knowledge of, 
191 ; study of, 224-229 ; trans- 
ition of, 224, 233-241 ; unity 
of, 225 ; psychic phenomena 
and, 226-228, 233 ; Spirit and, 
230-235,240; communion of, 
232-234 ; body and, 235, 238 ; 
death and, 236, 240 ; reality 
and, 241 ; brain and, 242-244; 
memory and, 242-244; halDit 
and, 243 ; worth of, 245 ; 
Christ and, 246 

Sound, 144 

Speaking, public, 115, 122, 139, 
140 

Speculation, 117, 186 

Spencer, 12, 16, 156 

Spirit, progressive, 6, 210 ; char- 
acteristics of, 6, 7, 9, 13, 17, 

20, 39, 65, 70, 75, 76, 116, 
200, 207, 245 ; our dependence 
on, 23, 114, 115, 195, 196, 
211 ; subconscious mind and, 
65, 72 ; education and, iii ; 
expression of, 112-126, 144; 
law of, 135 ; ministry of, 136- 
142 ; presence of, 139, 141, 



254 



Index 



Spin* t — Continued 
218, 230, 240 ; manifestation 
of, 140, 141 ; how known, 181; 
society and, 199 ; organism 
and, 199 ; coming of, 222 

Spiritual atmosphere, 38, 77, 78, 
141 

Spiritual faculty, the, 141, 225 

Spiritual ideal in childhood, the, 
73-92 

Spiritual life, the, 8, 17, 221, 
226, 228, 233 

Spontaneity, 66, 72, 75, 76, 108, 
186, 192 

Standard, moral, 133 

Stenography, 98 

Style, 120, 123 

Subconscious mind, the, educa- 
tion and, 28 ; theories of, 53 ; 
books on, 53 ; normal, 54 ; 
defined, 54, 69 ; how known, 
55 ; as agent, 56, 57, 65, 70, 

75, 89, 116 ; scope of, 57, 69 ; 
as storehouse, 58 ; conscious- 
ness and, 58, 59, 62, 69, 71, 
119 ; temperament and, 58, 
62 ; never sleeps, 60, 71 ; evi- 
dences of, 60-63 ; prophetic 
power of, 61 ; assimilative, 61, 

121 ; receptivity of, 62, 65, 72, 

76, 77, 118, 228 ; synthet- 
ic, 62, 118; products of, 62, 
122 ; progressive, 63 ; tele- 
pathic, 64 ; use of, 65, 66, 89 ; 
philosophic, 66 ; inductive, 66- 
68 ; Hudson's theory of, 67-70; 
forms of, 68 ; moral self and, 
69, 70 ; development of, 70 ; 
relation to dreams and sleep, 
71, 72; Myers on, 71, 72; 
highest phase of, 72, 76 ; in 
childhood, 75 ; ideals and, 76, 
85 ; teacher and, 89, 107 ; cre- 
ative, 119, 121 ; literary work 
and, 121, 124 ; speaking and, 

122 ; organic, 202 ; future life 
and, 228 

Suffering, 146, 147, 151 



Suggestion, 56, 57, 63-65, 

70, 107, 116, T18, 234 
Sully, 157 
Sunday-schools, 88 
Sympathy, 14, no 

Teacher, the, iii, 24, 28, 30, 89, 

107, 114, 133, 165 
Telegraphy, 98 
Telepathy, 69, 233, 234 
Temporal, the, 209 
Ten Great Religions, 102, 103 
Tennyson, 120, 189 
Thales, 162 
Theology, 11-13, 16-18 ; the old, 

29, 74, 83, 157, 167 
Theosophists, 76 
Thought, apex of, 58-60 
Tobacco, 44, 114 
Trade, learning a, 97 
Training of the child, 74, 78-92 
Transmutation, 85 
Travel, 103 
Truth, 8, 127, 128, 169, 185, 188, 

193 
Tuke, 34 
Typesetting, 98 
Typographical changes, 124 

Ueberweg, 160, 162 

Ultimate problems, i, 160, 161 

Unanimous consensus, 175, 187 

Uncaused, the, 2 

Universe, the, law-governed, 2, 
5 ; relation to mechanical the- 
ory, 3 ; an experiment, 5 ; 
place of, 7 ; origin of, 190 ; 
organic, 199 ; purpose of, 205 ; 
evolution of, 207 ; progressive, 
210 ; sound, 210 ; righteous, 
211 

Vibration, 144 
Voices of Freedom, 189, 191 
Volition, 36, 54, 69 

Wallace, 12, 102 
War, 131 



Index 



255 



Whittier, 87 
Will, 34, 89, 236 
Windleband, 160, 175, 178 
Wisdom, 204 
Work, 44, 123, 147 
World, process of, 10, 12 ; pur- 
pose of, 205, 206 
Writer, the, 115, 119-124, 140 



Xenophanes, 163 
Xenophon, 104 



Yudhisthira, 221 
Zeller, 160 



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